Insight
Tunisie Telecom was well aware that the country’s beaches are notorious for poor 3G network reception. So under the blazing summer sun, when most people in Tunisia head to the beach to cool off, they are effectively off the network. But this was not the only frustration for beachgoers that summer. As hoards of bathers gathered at the coast, they were wading ankle deep through rubbish.
Municipality officers had been on strike for two weeks and Tunisians were facing an unprecedented rubbish crisis. Families, children and tourists were trying to enjoy beaches that were gradually being transformed into an open dumping ground.
The strike had been on for two weeks when Mindshare had an idea. Despite government negotiations with municipality workers, there was no end in sight and people were, frankly, fed up with the pollution, which looked like it would soon become a threat to public health. What if Tunisie Telecom incentivised people on the beaches to clean them up? And then, what if it made it possible for these people, who were experiencing the issue first-hand, to find a communications channel where they could spread the word to the rest of Tunisia? It would halt an increasingly nasty environmental problem and help Tunisie Telecom demonstrate how effective its 3G++ service can be. This was how Mindshare created a movement called ‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’.
Strategy
Having recognised two major frustrations were ruining the beach experience for thousands of people that summer – rubbish and poor 3G network reception – Mindshare decided to resolve both in one stroke. It inspired people to take action themselves. For every kilogram of rubbish collected by beachgoers, Tunisie Telecom would give them a gigabyte of internet connection.
The campaign took place over three successive weekends; that’s six days in total from August 22 – September 7, because the beaches are far more popular and crowded on Saturdays and Sundays.
This was a chance to show Tunisians that they could trust Tunisie Telecom’s superior 3G++ service. It was also an opportunity to show the socially-responsible face of the brand. It can be hard for a telecoms operator to make a direct impact on environmental issues. This was something that the company had been keen to do for some time.
Mindshare’s strategy was first to focus on galvanising the people using the six beaches most affected by the rubbish crisis to clean them up. Secondly, it would spread the word on social media to encourage their friends, relatives and contacts to show support.
Execution
Tunisie Telecom installed the ‘TT Smart Converter’ onto the six beaches most affected by the rubbish crisis over three weekends. These specially-designed units consisted of a digital screen, a rubbish bin, wireless weighing scale and an optical fibre that was connected to terminals emitting 3G++ connection. A short film on the digital screen carried the key message: “Keep our beaches clean… 1 Gb of mobile internet connection will be offered for 1kg of trash collected.” The movement took just minutes to get started. In less than an hour, the ‘TT Smart Converter’ units were emitting 3G++ connectivity on all six beaches.
On their smartphones, beachgoers found three internet mobile networks/ hotspots. They were named: ‘Keep our’, ‘beaches clean’, ‘with TT’. A splash screen greeted them to say the beach had to be clean before connecting and they could access a gigabyte of data for each kilogram of rubbish collected.
Next, the word spread beyond the beaches. As part of connection to the free mobile internet, beachgoers had to accept one condition – an automatic broadcast to all of their Facebook Friends and Twitter followers. This contained a simple message from Tunisie Telecom: ‘Keep our beaches clean’. And to encourage sharing, beachgoers were also sent a link to another short film hosted on Tunisie Telecom’s YouTube channel. Now, the movement had really begun. In fact, it continued for three weekends until both parties in the strike reached a compromise and municipality officers returned to work and collected rubbish as usual.
Results
The response on the beaches was remarkable. More than 1,200 people of all ages – even tourists – showed civic pride and began collecting rubbish and placing it in the ‘TT Smart Converters’. This meant that over 830 people connected to the 3G++ service.
Over 927 GB of 3G internet mobile were liberated and same number of Kilograms of trash were collected by participants and recovered by the association Tunisie Recyclage (Tunisia Recycling).
‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’ was also the most viewed video on YouTube that month with 280,000 views and 20,000 messages of support posted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Number of followers increased by 4% on twitter, 7% more fans on Facebook and the number of YouTube subscribers increased by 20%.
After the campaign, Tunisie Telecom’s 3G++ brand image index increased by 31%, reaching 78% – well beyond a 60% target. From 29 June to 29 July, 3G++ sales were also positive with a 5.2% growth rate compared to a target of 3%.
As the movement grew, PR for what was happening at these six beaches became incredible. Tunisie Telecom benefited from the free PR coverage estimated at $1 million.
Just one example would be Tunisia’s top TV channel, Al Watania 1, which covered the story on its main 8pm news slot. Our film, ‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’, was hosted on the websites of the six highest-rated radio stations while more than 150 print and online publications including several international ones covered the clean-up. Social media played a vital role in activating local passions and spreading the word. There were 35,000 video shares on Facebook, for example.