Hawena Bet-houn campaign was launched and went viral to reach a third of the Lebanese population. This creator-led campaign caused the fastest growing period for Uber in Lebanon. Creators went on a ride and expressed frustrations with the social situation in Lebanon and the various daily issues that Lebanese were facing.
Hawena Bet-houn campaign was launched and went viral to reach a third of the Lebanese population. This creator-led campaign caused the fastest growing period for Uber in Lebanon. Creators went on a ride and expressed frustrations with the social situation in Lebanon and the various daily issues that Lebanese were facing.
Uber Lebanon had entered the market and at the end of 2017 found that rides were very low.
There were spikes in summer and winter that came with an influx of visitors from abroad – testament to the brand’s international success. However, local Lebanese had not transitioned to using Uber as a primary mode of transportation.
Additionally, public transport is considered low-end with people preferring to use their own cars or car-pool with friends. Furthermore, when seeking alternate transport, Lebanon has no shortage of local and neighborhood taxi services as well as cabs that serve as public transport on the streets. Uber’s own research found that the Lebanese were accustomed to their next-door taxi service or hailing a cab on the street.
Increase its brand equity to gain a share of the local market. Raise consideration levels towards Uber as a main transportation option among the Lebanese. Generate and execute the entire campaign concept with a focus on digital communication and influencers in specific.
Position Uber as socially aware, local, caring and humane while also, positioning its partner drivers as empathetic with the rider.
Lebanon is not an easy country to live in. At the end of 2017, the country was in a political deadlock, suffering through an on-going trash crisis and lingering civil unrest. This came in addition to daily power cuts due to electricity rationing, low wages, a lack of affordable housing options and few reliable state services – all of which are a mainstay in Lebanese life.
Based on the above insights on the country’s difficulties – we created a campaign that offered a solution to the hassle that the population goes through on a daily basis, positioning Uber as an ideal place to feel comfortable and vent as well as a higher-end alternate transportation option.
We produced content that empowered both riders and driver partners via an end-to-end campaign with one over-arching message: take it easy and let it go. This formed the campaign hashtag used in Arabic and the message was mirrored across all touch-points, from outdoors to radio and mall communication.
Across social media we created a series of engaging comedy sketches, using comedian influencers to demonstrate Uber as a perfectly funny place to vent about their day-to-day problems to their drivers. We tapped Abbas Jaafar, Hicham Haddad, and Anjo Rihane & How I Take My Coffee – comedic influencers with a strong local following to create and disseminate these sketches that simultaneously and subtly showcased the ease of using Uber and a first person user experience.
Our eight videos were spread across Facebook and Instagram, with a 34% view rate that delivered 1.6 million total views, 4.7 million impressions and a total of 94.7 thousand in total engagement.
The campaign capitalized on local behaviors and social interactions using unique identifiers and scenarios that are real and relatable. As a result, this positioned Uber as locally relevant, socially aware and empathetic.
This resonated with the population, increasing consideration among riders and expanding the company’s market share.
