“Shared mobility – the new paradigm for sustainable transportation”

Ola, a leading mobile app for transportation, recently rolled out a first-of-its kind campaign – called #DoYourShare – to take shared mobility to a new level. As part of this initiative, Ola installed a unique ‘Billboard’ at prominent junctions in three cities – Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru – to display and track carbon emission levels saved in real-time by commuters using ‘Ola Share’ rides in the respective cities. The campaign was aimed at encouraging citizens to adopt shared mobility and help reduce negative impact on the environment, by helping reduce carbon emissions in the city. The two-week long initiative went live from the first week of August.

The ‘Billboard’ and live digital counters on social media tracked the carbon emission levels real-time and acted as a reference point for commuters to ‘do their share’ towards building a green, sustainable and congestion-free city. This initiative by Ola was powered by The World Resource Institute (WRI), a global research organisation working towards a creating low carbon economy. Together with WRI’s expertise and the support of millions of users, Ola aimed at reducing carbon emission by 1,200 tonnes – 400 tonnes respectively in each city – Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

Commenting on the campaign, Raghuvesh Sarup, Head of Categories & CMO at Ola, said, “Shared mobility is the new paradigm for sustainable transportation. With Ola’s ‘#DoYourShare’ campaign, our goal is to help cities reduce on-road congestion and unhealthy traffic jams, by encouraging more and more commuters to opt for Ola Share. It will be interesting to see the three cities race for clean air, as their citizens compete to contribute towards reduced emissions, responsibly.”

In conversation with Adgully, Raghuvesh Sarup gives more insights behind the campaign…

How did the idea for the #DoYourShare campaign germinate?
At Ola, it is our constant endeavour to build sustainable smart commuting solutions to provide ease of mobility to a billion Indians. We believe that problems like growing pollution and on-road congestion can be tackled effectively through shared mobility solutions, and hence, we have categories like Ola Share and Ola Shuttle on our platform.

We keep coming up with campaigns and initiatives to create awareness about shared mobility amongst citizens across India. Our latest two-week long campaign, ‘#DoYourShare’, was initiated on August 3, 2016 with an objective of reducing 1,200 tonnes of carbon emissions across Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. The campaign was designed to encourage citizens to adopt shared mobility and helped reduce adverse impact on the environment by helping reduce carbon emissions significantly.

Was it done in-house or suggested by your agency?
Our marketing and creative teams are always working towards creating hyper-local campaigns to engage with our customers. This, too, was one such campaign; and it has seen unprecedented response from our target audience.

Which agencies were involved in executing this particular initiative?
This initiative by Ola was powered by The World Resource Institute (WRI), a global research organisation working towards creating a low carbon economy. Together with WRI’s expertise and the support of millions of users, Ola managed to reduce over 1,200 tonnes of carbon emissions in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The creative agency for the campaign was Happy Creative Services. The outdoor was being managed by Ecosys OOH, and Motivator (GroupM) was our media agency for this campaign.

How many billboards were set up in all? Where could the billboards be seen in Delhi and Bangalore?
We had installed these unique ‘Billboards’ at prominent junctions in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi NCR to display and track carbon emission levels saved in real-time by commuters using ‘Ola Share’ rides. These billboards were installed in high traffic areas like Cyber City in Gurugram, Delhi NCR; Telli Galli in Andheri East, Mumbai; and near the Domlur Flyover, Bengaluru.

What kind of technology was involved in monitoring the carbon emission? How exactly was the measurement done?
We used World Resource Institute’s toolkit to measure emissions impact on the environment.

What was the duration of the campaign and till now what kind of reduction in carbon emission has been observed?
The two-week long campaign has recently concluded and all the three cities have achieved their respective targets of reducing over 400 tonnes of carbon emissions.

Was this first-of-its kind initiative or has something similar been done earlier in India or other parts of the world?
This was designed as a unique campaign and is one of the many steps we are taking to contribute to environment-friendly cities in the country. Our goal is to help cities reduce on-road congestion and unhealthy traffic jams by encouraging more and more commuters to opt for shared mobility solutions like Ola Share.

How did it help Brand Ola in terms of awareness, etc.?
Ola Share services are currently available in seven cities in India – Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. Campaigns like #DoYourShare encourage citizens to adopt shared mobility.

Apart from outdoor, how exactly did you promote the #DoYourShare initiative? What were the other media platforms that you utilised?
Ola’s #DoYourShare campaign was promoted through a mix of above and below the line initiatives, which included promotion using outdoor and digital media. The whole campaign was being pushed on Ola’s social media handles, including live updates and specific milestones. We had also rolled out an interesting radio campaign egging citizens across Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru to share their rides and be a part of this initiative.

Going forward, are you planning to take this campaign to other cities too?
Yes, we certainly intend to take this campaign to other cities as well. We are relentlessly working towards building sustainable mobility solutions, as we advance on our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians.

Have you reached the target that you had set for the reduction in carbon emissions?
Post the two-week long campaign, all the three cities have achieved their respective target of reducing 400 tonnes of carbon emissions. With the support of our Ola Share commuters, we have managed to reduce over 1,200 tonnes of carbon emissions.