[Campaign Review] Ola Cabs sends out a strong message with #GiveWayGiveLife

Building a strong script coated with some Indian drama and loads of sarcasm directed towards the society and solid undertones of people’s inclination towards celebration over everything, Ola cabs churned out a campaign #GiveWayGiveLife with a specific agenda of traffic in perspective.

Campaign outline

High on the lined up celebration season with festive vibes doing rounds of the country, people routinely have these celebrations from their houses to the roads gathering hundreds with them. But amidst the gala, we somewhere tend to turn a blind-eye towards the hazards subsequent to the merriment.

Bringing the dark side to notice, Ola Cabs being the ambassadors of the roads took up the responsibility to put things into perception through pictorial representation. The issue voiced out is essentially way above the noise pollution or delayed traffic causing mere irritation.

Scrutinizing the short narrative of less than two minutes - the film begins with high drama as the patient is pulled up in the ambulance with his family along and the drama keeps elevating when the visuals showcase the patient’s dropping oxygen level and growing traffic in parallel which obstructs him from reaching the hospital. Stuck in celebratory procession, the son of the patient gets out, dreading to clear the indifferent crowd, meanwhile the patient loses his life.

As the family starts mourning the film takes a cringe-worthy twist and with the noise of the dhol playing in the background the patient comes back to life. This unexpected miracle is the sarcastic weave of the content as the video then concludes with the caption, ‘Thousands lose their lives every year due to ambulance delays; Zero miracles have been reported.’

Through a dramatically built up campaign, the last message was the crux of the campaign.

Content marketing of #GiveWayGiveLife

Through a direct hashtag, the brand executed the campaign coated with sarcasm, thus staying non-preachy in nature yet managing to put across their message.

Finding a way to spread their message to the audience and not being offensive to the country which is extremely sensitive when it comes to festivals, Ola Cabs succeeded in their content creation. Another aspect noticed through this campaign was that being a cab service, nowhere did the brand bring that into picture but simply addressed the untouched cause which in fact has taken lives.

Ola Cabs through this campaign managed to put across their brand image as a responsibly and sensitive towards social issues. The brand should have kept the mode of communication on their social media in regional language to reach a wider audience, precisely the audience who actually are the prime participants of these celebrations.

Digital traffic      

#GiveWayGiveLife a broad hashtag which can be deciphered after watching the content that the brand has to offer has managed to get viral on the digital platform with making an appearance on people’s feed.

The campaign that went live on October 7, till date on Facebook received 1.6M views, 39k reactions, 15,190 shares and emotions pouring out in the comment section. On Twitter too people appreciated the efforts of the brand.

The moment u expect a social message, the Indian drama kicks in. @Olacabs, nice job! #GiveWayGiveLife - https://t.co/yKEtAugFY0

— Nikhita Biswas (@Nikbis21) October 7, 2016

No #miracles reported. True. Good job @Olacabs #GiveWayGiveLife https://t.co/7xVVQOVtp5

— Danielle Moniz (@TheDaniverse) October 8, 2016

Supporting the campaign, the brand shared a creative which commended the prestigious Ganpati of Pune – Guruji Talim Mandal, their procession which made way for an ambulance despite the over-crowded celebration.  This act by the organizers portrayed immense responsibility by placing humanity and sensitivity above celebrations which also back then was praised on social media after the video starting going viral.

Talking about this act, probably Ola cabs took inspiration through this act during the Ganpati Visarjan back in September and produced a campaign around the issue. But in their case sarcasm managed to take the cake, which became the highlight of the campaign and like we always say social media is more about how we say it rather than what we say.