Title	THE TAXI THERAPISTS
Brand	TAXI STOCKHOLM
Product/Service	WEBB
Category	A06. Events & Experiential (incl. stunts)
Entrant Company	KING Stockholm, SWEDEN
Advertising Agency	KING Stockholm, SWEDEN

Name	Company	Position
Frank Hollingworth	King	Creative Director
Christoffer Dymling	King	Copywriter
Josephine Wallin	King	Art Director
Sunit Mehrotra	King	Account Supervisor
Peter Preisler	King	Account Director
Lena Ivarsson	King	Account Manager
Per Wilson	King	Planner
Carina Herly		Advertiser's Supervisor
David Berron		Director

The Campaign

During fall a lot of Stockholmers get depressed because of the short daylight, a symptom called seasonal affective disorder. But life in a big city can be stressful so many people don’t take the time to take care of themselves. Cabdrivers often gets to double as therapists and according to a survey 70% of Stockholmers agreed a taxi ride is a good time for reflection. From this an idea was born – The Taxi Therapists. A new service you book online, where you get to talk to a licensed therapists that’s sitting together with you in the backseat of the cab. That way you could take care of yourself while getting to your destination. The news spread like wildfire from Swedish media to international news media like CNN and BBC. Historians spoke about how the idea functioned as a carrier of Sweden's brand internationally, while the business press hailed Taxi Stockholm's public relations victory against competitors. It is always difficult for an old and big player to succeed in seeming surprising and interesting. With The Taxi Therapists, Taxi Stockholm managed to do just that. 59% of Stockholmers stated that the campaign made them see Taxi Stockholm as a company who knows and cares about their customers. At the same time Taxi Stockholm managed to build its position in all media segments - from local news, entertainment and social journalism to business and trade press, while the campaign echoed internationally. With a single campaign taxi suddenly became relevant in all categories.

The Brief

The objective was to position Taxi Stockholm as a company that knows and cares about its travellers. We wanted to move the brand amongst 25 % of the Stockholm population, a high figure since only about 15 % regularly travels with Taxi Stockholm, defined as minimum one travel per month. Publicity reach was aimed at 4 million, creating a lower-than-usual contact cost and breaking the publicity record of any previous Taxi Stockholm campaign.

Execution

We created and launched an online service where you could book your taxi ride with a therapist in the back seat. During the campaign period, three cars were equipped with therapists and the service was overbooked – most of the capacity was reserved for passengers but we also held a part for journalists. During the first step – national Swedish media brought up the story, especially those covering Stockholm. After gaining publicity and buzz at home, we concentrated on targeting foreign correspondents and English-speaking news outlets to create international buzz. The story eventually spread to BBC and CNN in this stage. We played on how the story symbolized the archetype of Sweden – social engineering, melancholia, creativity and darkness. The overwhelming interest from the world made the story even more relevant at home. So we created a domestic meta-story about the taxi therapists becoming an international symbol for Sweden.

This campaign was a brand campaign primarily designed to generate brand liking, not short-term income increase. In terms of business impact, all therapy trips were fully booked. They weren’t only fully booked, consumers queued and kept contacting Taxi Stockholm after the campaign ended for more available slots. Moreover, 270 articles were written about the campaign and it was shared 2294 times on Facebook and Twitter. Even more impressively, the campaign received recognition from all over the world and was written about in 24 languages. With a total reach of 16 million. From an attitude perspective, the goal was to create a bond with the Stockholmers. We were thrilled to find that 59% of Stockholmers stated that the campaign made them see Taxi Stockholm as a company who knows and cares about their customers.

The Strategy

The wider target audience was people living in greater Stockholm in the ages 18 – 65. The primary group of travellers and potential travellers are more urban, more stressed and of higher income than the general population. We chose to address the unique features of the target audience and the time of the year: addressing stressful Stockholmians in one of the world’s darkest capitals with one of the world’s most depressed populations during fall when Swedish melancholia usually kicks in. Thus we made the taxi car a platform to address these problems, since the taxi is one of few places where you have some time for yourself. People could easily recognize that they use taxis for talking with the driver, but it was also very new and different to put therapists in the car. This combination of recognition and surprise in the idea created a high news value.