VACCINATION RIDES

Short List
TitleVACCINATION RIDES
BrandGOJEK
Product / ServiceGOJEK
CategoryG07. Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility
EntrantFORSMAN & BODENFORS Singapore, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation FORSMAN & BODENFORS Singapore, SINGAPORE
PR OGILVY PR Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Leo Bovaller Forsman & Bodenfors Planner
Susanna Fagring Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore CEO
Ivan Guerra Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Creative
Lena Paik Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Creative
Jade Cheng Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Account Director
Moses Wu Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Creative
Kim Cramer Forsman & Bodenfors Creative
Gary Lim Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Creative
Amanda Zhang Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore Producer

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Gojek is a challenger brand in Singapore. One with a fraction of the communication budget of its competitors. With the pandemic, a traditional campaign would do very little to offset the decline in ridership or snag a chunk of market share, as no one was riding in the first place. So Vaccination Rides, a timely and nimble initiative, helped draw headlines and generate interest by putting the brand at the center of the vaccination conversation while offering a clear solution from Gojek, generating massive positive sentiment, installs, usage and revenue for the brand.

Background

Singapore rolled out its vaccination efforts in early 2021. But by May, only 27% of the population had gotten a shot. With 81% of Singaporeans relying on public transportation to get to their jabs and fear of contagion rampant, travel was a clear barrier to vaccination. The Land Transport Authority reported a 75% drop in ridership since the pandemic started. As a ride-hailing company, Gojek had been heavily affected by Covid-19 due to decreased overall ridership. In May 2021, the brand recorded a record low market share in Singapore, and spontaneous brand awareness was also at a record low. Gojek initially approached us to address these two points with a campaign that would generate awareness for the brand and help boost their market share. Up until May, Gojek had focused heavily on promotional activities in a bid to increase ridership, but with few reasons to travel, ridership levels remained low.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

To get people riding again and prove to Singapore we're the ride-hailing company they can trust, Gojek, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing company, decided to encourage more people to get their COVID-19 shots. To do that, we convinced the client to pivot a budgeted $12 million in communication into investment to taking people to and from their vaccination centers for free. From anywhere in the country to any hospital, clinic or community center that administered a COVID-19 vaccine shot.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

Singapore was told it would only open up once vaccination rates increased. So, as long as vaccination remained low, ridership would too. On top of that, people weren't encouraged nor had the interest to be out and about, mostly due to the fear of getting Covid-19 and the government's restrictions on movement. No matter the incentive or emotional string we were to pull through a typical awareness campaign, it would still do very little to help the brand snag a bigger chunk of market share, as no one was riding in the first place. So, our objective was two-fold - give people a new reason to travel with Gojek, and assure them that riding with Gojek was the safest way to get to and from wherever they wanted. And our “new reason to travel” was clear: get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Our efforts began in March, selling the idea through Gojek's stakeholders and implementing the promotional mechanic in the app. The initiative was officially launched on May 27th, through a PR effort with major media outlets in Singapore - Today, MediaCorp, The Straits Times, and CNA. The promotion would last until August 31st. And throughout the months, we kept interest going through targeted communication with content on social, widespread CRM efforts, and app notifications. Then, to engage younger audiences around our vaccination effort, we released the Gojek One-Sleevie, the perfect t-shirt to get your shot: a tee with a single sleeve. Through influencer marketing, we got the word out. Vaccination Rides quickly became a topic of conversation in the news, but also in closer circles amongst friends and family. People were quick to share tutorial videos on how to book the rides on social media.

List the results (30% of vote)

Throughout the campaign, Gojek drove over 1 million Singaporeans to their vaccination appointments (accounting for 1/5 of the entire population). Gojek supported the country in going from a vaccination rate of 31 % to 80 % within the period of the campaign, and thereby becoming the world’s most vaccinated country at the time. The Gojek app started trending, with app downloads increasing by 470% and becoming the #1 downloaded app on both Android and iOS in Singapore We achieved our primary target by growing market share by 55%! Spontaneous awareness increased by 36% App usage increased by 98 %, almost doubling the number of people riding with Gojek on a daily basis. Over 250 million media impressions.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

The name Gojek comes from the term “ojek”, which stands for motorbike taxis, commonly found throughout Indonesia. Gojek was built to provide a platform where "ojek" drivers and riders can connect efficiently, allowing those drivers to improve their income and the riders to have their everyday needs solved. Since that day, Gojek's brand purpose has been to help make people's lives better, frictionless, easier, through its driver-partners and the many services it offers: be it taking you from A to B, to delivering food, groceries, parcels and even concert tickets. Through that brand purpose, the idea of Vaccination Rides was not only conceived, but made possible, as the many internal stakeholders quickly rallied around this genuine opportunity to use the company's core offering to help make Singaporeans' lives better by simply taking them to and from their vaccination appointments.

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