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SILVER WINNER: DHL F1 Campaign Singapore

 

DHL1Client: DHL Express (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Entrant Company: Mediaedge:cia, Singapore

Entry Category: A Local Execution of a Multinational Campaign

Names to be credited with submission:
• Jennifer Loke- Group Account Director, MEC Global
• Wendy Tan- Planner, MEC Global

Time Period of Campaign: 2008

Case Study Summary:

Marketing Situation: When it was announced that Formula 1 race was coming to Singapore for a debut night race through the streets, many brands jumped on the bandwagon with opportunistic F1-related advertising.

DHL is the Official Logistics Partner for F1, and needed to cut through the cluttered environment with just a limited budget. A campaign also needed to showcase DHL’s expertise and capabilities to its core target audiences of Administrators and Decision Makers, as well as to Singaporeans in general.

DHL TaxiKey Insights: Bearing in mind the outdoor advertising restrictions imposed by the F1 organizer, transit media became the main thrust of the F1 campaign. The Administrators, office administrators and receptionists, who usually have two to three different courier services at their fingertips, often travel on public transportation. At the same time, the Decision Makers often drive or take taxis; therefore, transit media would also serve the same purpose in reaching out to this secondary audience. The second prong would be riding on the F1 editorial in newspapers which would be read by the Administrators.

Media Strategy: Transit media was split into 2 different clusters – Taxi advertising (500 taxi bodies) and advertising in MRT stations at the four high-traffic flow locations.

A special consumer promotion was set up around the taxis. Winners in a daily draw received free taxi vouchers. Contestants had to SMS a DHL F1 taxi license plate to participate. The taxis drove high awareness as they were mobile, visible and concentrated at double the weight that of an average taxi campaign in Singapore.

A number of taxis were also used for giving away free rides at 6 strategic shopping and office taxi stands at appointed times over the F1 weekend. Many responded to an advertisement on the free rides by queuing before the appointed time at the locations. There was an impressive convoy of DHL taxis going down the roads during the chartering hours!

The campaign also used press cost-effectively; DHL F1 ads were placed only in F1 centric supplements or special Race Day editions over the F1 days Friday through Sunday. Today was selected as a newspaper read on mass transit by Administrators. For added reach against Decision Makers, an ad was placed in The Straits Times F1 Supplement.

How Could this be a Template for Other Campaigns or for World Class Standards? Given the ad clutter around the event and the F1 advertising restrictions, coupled with a limited budget for the campaign, the taxis delivered a BIG impact. Free taxi promotions and taxi chartering services drove further buzz over DHL. The entire taxi program is easily replicable and scalable as a template for other city roll-outs.

Results: The media campaign, particularly with its sea of moving taxis, generated great buzz and awareness during the F1 event, and made a strong connection between DHL logistics expertise. The island-wide consumer promotion was also well-received with responses totaling a whopping 21,833 SMS text messages across 8 weeks.