BELOVED CITY, WE ARE WITH YOU!

TitleBELOVED CITY, WE ARE WITH YOU!
BrandTAXOVICHKOF
Product/ServiceTAXOVICHKOF TAXI SERVICE
Category C06. Real-time Response
Entrant GRANAT COMMUNICATIONS Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
Idea Creation GRANAT COMMUNICATIONS Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
Media Placement GRANAT COMMUNICATIONS Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
PR GRANAT COMMUNICATIONS Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
Production GRANAT COMMUNICATIONS Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Valentina Golovacheva Granat communications PR Director
Yulia Gurevich Granat communications Account Director
Sergey Shabanov Granat communications SMM Strategist
Anastasia Beloglazova Granat communications PR Manager
Helena Golikova Granat communications PR Manager

The Campaign

A Saint Petersburg taxi service Taxovichkof was the first to find a solution for the city’s travel mayhem. And in just fifteen minutes, the first taxis started arriving to metro stations. To drive people home. For free. Taxovichkof is a social responsible company. It is one of the most popular taxi service in Saint Petersburg, the only local company with the own car park and officially recognized as the taxi with the best service in the city. According to the marketing research, Taxovichkof is seen in the center of the city on average every three minutes, and every fifth Petersburger traveled to Taxovichkof at least once. The company could not stay away from the tragedy in the beloved city. It took just fifteen minutes to offer an idea to the client and to arrange it. Taxovichkof immediately sent all the free cars to help people.

Execution

At 3:32 p.m., Taxovichkof published a post in social media. "Beloved city, we are all with you! Right now, Taxovichkof hurled all efforts into providing citizens with transportation. We are pulling free cars closer to the metro stations. If you happen to see Taxovichkof’s car nearby the stations, feel free to get into it, and we will take you to the nearest open metro station free of charge". Thousands reposted the message in the next hour. One post on vk.com was viewed by million of users (1,222,950). People found a chance to get back home. A press release was issued and distributed. Leading publishing houses in the country and the city released the information on air. More then 150 mentions in the largest media sources were reached in just eight hours. 10 TV channels showed Taxovichkof in the news. Total media impressions accounted for more than a billion contacts (1,100,751,940).

One post on vk.com: 1,222,950 views > 28,000 likes 4,510 shares > 1,700 comments Total social media reach (including shared messages): > 10,000,000 views > 3,000 grateful comments > 1,000 new subscribers to the Taxovichkof's public for 1 day Media reach: > 150 mentions in the largest media sources in just eight hours Issues on 10 TV channels 1,100,751,940 media impressions And this is when an incredible thing has happened… A quick response that the company has given awoke an echo in people’s hearts. Ordinary drivers began offering their help. Fellow travelers started searching for each other in social media and maps to share a car. In an hour, the city authorities announced free use of overground public transport. Two hours later, other taxi providers also joined Taxovichkof’s initiative. At 7:34 p.m., a network of filling stations offered free refills to drivers. Cafés decided to give out free coffee and tea drinks to citizens. Mobile network operators declared cell phone calling free. Brands reaction timeline: 3:32. p.m. Taxovichkof. 4:40. p.m. Public transport. 5:22. p.m. Yandex.Taxi and Uber taxi services. 6:16. p.m. MTS and MegaFon mobile network operators. 7:34 p.m. Gazprom Neft filling stations. Everyone started helping another. That day Taxovichkof helped drive around six thousand people home free of charge. April the third happened to be a tragic day in city’s history. However, it will be remembered forever as the day of true kindness.

The Situation

The hard work of PR specialists made a wonderful thing. In a tragic situation when everybody was scared and distraught the quick business response has turned fear and despair of the citizens in kindness and mutual support. 1,100,751,941 media impressions were reached unpaid. > 3,000 grateful comments were incredibly sincere. This results were based on 24-hour interaction with mass media and an endless love for the native city.

The Strategy

Target audience: St. Petersburg citizens, adults aged 20-60 years old, families with children. Target media: local and federal news media, including online and TV, popular social media communities. Taxovichkof's own social page on vk.com (the most popular russian social network) is followed by > 73 000 subscribers. So vk.com was chosen as the first channel of communication. Then a press release was issued and distributed.