Title	THE DAVOS CHALLENGE: WALK FOR EDUCATION
Brand	UBS
Product/Service	CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Category	A01. Corporate Reputation & Communication
Entrant Company	PUBLICIS PIXELPARK Hamburg, GERMANY
Advertising Agency	PUBLICIS PIXELPARK Hamburg, GERMANY
Production Company	LUCKY7EVEN ENTERTAINMENT Munich, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Timm Weber	Publicis Pixelpark	Executive Creative Director
Andreas Brunsch	Publicis Pixelpark	Head Of Digital
Tim Schröder	Publicis Pixelpark	It Director
Stefanie Rohde	Publicis Pixelpark	Account Director
Carmen Köhnke	Publicis Pixelpark	Project Manager
Michael Giese	Publicis Pixelpark	Head Of Event/Promotion
Christian Henke	Publicis Pixelpark	Concept
Johannes Widmer	Publicis Pixelpark	Art Director
Mike Nagel	Koordinauten Gmbh	Backend Development
Sebastian Witt	Koordinauten Gmbh	Frontend Development
Sebastian Bayer	Publicis Pixelpark	Web Development
Ian-scott Paterson	Publicis Pixelpark	Copywriter
Sascha Kurz	Publicis Pixelpark	Screendesign
Ilka Laquiante	Publicis Pixelpark	Senior Account Manager Event
Melanie Machunze	Publicis Pixelpark	Event Manager
Dieter Weber	Publicis Pixelpark	Print Production
Oleg Friesen	Publicis Pixelpark	Motiondesign
Christopher Remmers	Publicis Pixelpark	Motiondesign

The Campaign

Many children in rural South Africa face a daily walk to school of 6 km or more. That’s why they often arrive late, are tired or unable to fully participate in the learning process. To change this UBS decided to do the walking for them. The company partnered with the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos and invited 1,000 world and business leaders to take action for better education in Africa. By walking the same distance as a school child does during their stay in Davos. For every 6 kilometers walked, UBS donated a bicycle to a South African school child. Because bikes help them get to school faster, more learning time can be achieved. To get the delegates walking participants received special Fitbit wristbands that measured their steps. Terminals all over Davos displayed all steps walked, the number of bicycles already achieved and how this is improving learning in Africa. Also a competitive twist was added. That way the delegates could easily find out whether they were also top performers for education. In the end more than 11 thousand km were walked resulting in 2,500 bikes. Kilometers were crunched and bikes were earned by CEOs, politicians, academics and visionaries. And all this walking didn’t go unnoticed. In fact it was one of the most covered topics in Davos history. Publishers such as Huffington Post and broadcasters such as CNN reported about the project and tweets were sent among participants. Not only publicity was gained but dialogues were created.

The Brief

To help children in South Africa with their daily walk to school of 6 km and thus increase their chance to education, UBS in collaboration with World Bicycle Relief wanted to donate 2,500 bicycles. The target audience of the World Economic Forum in Davos consists of politicians, business people and visionaries. People, who are used to economic challenges. People, who usually have full meeting schedules and to whom one needs to present outstanding ideas and concepts in order to gain their attention. Therefore, all ideas that were developed throughout the conceptual phase were geared to the needs of this audience.

Execution

In order to prove the meaning of UBS’s CSR activities, an impactful communication idea was to be developed. In cooperation with World Bicycle Relief, UBS’s target was to donate 2,500 bicycles to school children. Participants received a Fitbit Flex bracelet that measured the distance walked. Each participant was able to log in to a specially designed microsite, which was both designed for desktop and for mobile, and retrieve his personal status. In addition to the microsite, terminals were set up both at the Convention Center, as well as in some hotels and in the UBS branch, where information about the background of the project were shown. Live statistics on the total number of walked kilometers, the donated bikes and the learning time spent were displayed both on the terminals and on the microsite. The project was executed as planned and thanks to an overwhelming participation, the target was achieved.

All 1,000 Fitbit Flex bracelets where handed out to participants. Kilometers were crunched and bikes were earned by CEOs, politicians, academics and visionaries. In the end, more than 11 thousand km were walked resulting in 2,500 bikes. All this walking didn’t go unnoticed. In fact, it was one of the most covered topics in Davos history. CNN reported about the project in “Quest meets Business”, and publishers such as Huffington Post, USA today, The Guardian and The Australian reported about the project. Hundreds of Likes, Shares and Tweets followed from the articles and videos published.

The Strategy

The idea had to be intriguing and easy at the same time. Intriguing as the audience is made of the global elite. Easy as the participants do not have time to deal with the project in detail. Only by meeting those requirements, the target audience can be involved in the project – and that’s the necessity in order to gain awareness, so UBS’s reputation in the fields of CSR is shaped. The target audience is used to CSR projects. That’s why the following strategic components were the core of the idea: direct involvement, measurable results and sustainable growth. This was achieved by direct linkage of kilometers walked to donation of bikes, Fitbits that count steps and ensure transparency of data and the focus on education as improvement of education may lead to wealth in the future.