Wunderman Thompson

Client: stc
Product: mystc App
Title: The Unexpected Reroute
Media: Google Maps
Country: Saudi Arabia
Date Of Campaign: February 2022

Background: People still visit stc’s (Saudi Telecom Company) physical stores despite mystc, an app that does everything the store can and more. In line with the Saudi’s vision of digitization, stc needed to change that behavior for good.

Idea: We realized that every time people need a service from stc, they instinctively open Google Maps and search for the nearest store. That was when we realized that if Google Maps was leading them to the stores, then we should hijack Google Maps to lead them to the app instead.In an unprecedented move, we turned Google Maps into a new educational channel. Ever notice those little thumbnails when you expand a location? They are usually useless for a telecom store. That is until we hijacked them and made them useful for the first time ever. We collaborated with one of Saudi’s funniest comedians, we sent him to the most visited stores to create content (photos, videos and 360 views) from the actual locations and upload them onto Google Maps.Each time someone searches for stc store, our character pops up in the stores’ thumbnails, asking them to use mystc app instead.By studying what Google Maps algorithm allows, we were able to put branded content on a platform that doesn't sell space for brands. And since Google allows brands to choose their store thumbnails, we obviously chose his content to always appear at the top.

Results: We turned simple thumbnails into a totally new media spot that carried one of the biggest targeted, real time, campaign in the Kingdom. In just one week there was: ?- Increase in number of app download: 8%- Increase in number of active users: 17%- Increase in number of activities inside the app (buying products, activate/de-active): 21%And we achieved it all without spending a dollar on media.