The Brief

There are many sources for people to find things to see and do in Shanghai. But Time Out goes deeper than others, to find the hidden gems of the city. The challenge was to demonstrate this in a meaningful, attention-getting way. Doing so would help differentiate Time Out Shanghai, increasing its readers and users, and making it more attractive to advertisers.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

To demonstrate this difference, we created the Stolen Phone Tour. We purposely “lost” Time Out Shanghai’s cell phone, and placed it on a random street in Shanghai, available for any passerby to pick up. Once someone did, they received a text: “Get in the London cab that just pulled up.” The cab carried the phone snatchers around the city to discover places they would have never found on their own. The only communication was through text messages on the phone. Each stop along the way was captured by hidden camera.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

While business results are still being tabulated, the project was the most buzz-generating effort in the brand’s history, based on PR and social media engagement, and has increased social media engagement, website visits, and time spent on the site.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

the tour takes the phone snatchers around the city to discover placesof the hidden gems of this city they would have never found on their own but Time Out founds.