Research showed that with Shell’s target audience - EEMs who are a smart, savvy and time poor audience with strong opinions – evidence of genuine ‘on-the-ground’ activity is important to improve brand perceptions. The ideas also needed to exhibit a clear human benefit with a clear focus on the beneficiaries of the bright energy ideas.

So we took EEMs on a 50 day digital roadshow across Kenyan villages to demonstrate the benefit of Gravity Light to off grid communities. Our audiences could watch the roadshow live in action across social platforms and Shell’s owned properties. We then worked with 15+ global influencers to spread the word globally by telling the Gravity light story in the form of 50 bedtime stories to EEMS who are likely to be young parents to land the message that how access to cleaner source of light can help improve lives.

The Gravity Light relay was promoted across earned and owned digital and social channels where the audiences could track progress by watching video updates of rural communities experiencing the benefits of Gravity Light.

To achieve scale, we promoted a kick-off video globally across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, which summarised the roadshow and the benefits of the technology targeting bespoke EEM audiences.

To deliver greater depth, we retargeted previously engaged audiences on social platforms with animated videos of Gravity Light ‘bedtime stories’. These stories were narrated by high-profile influencers such as Luan Santana (Brazil), Pixie Lott (UK) and Yemi Alade (Nigeria). Fifty animated videos were produced, each telling a different story, each told by a different influencer descending from over 15 different countries, while consistently integrating Gravity Light within the narrative.

The campaign was supported with focused search activity which directed the audience to a bedtime stories playlist on YouTube.

Credibility

EEMs - a time-poor audience - chose to spend quality time with the gravity light and bed time stories content: our audience spent almost 9 years’ worth of time with our content! Impressive in its own right, but astonishing when taking into account that each animated story was over 4 minutes long.

Scale

We’ve taken Gravity Light from remote villages in Kenya to the world at large with 274m views (and counting) in under 6 weeks. The kick-off video featured in the 2017 AdAge Top Ten viral video chart, becoming one of the top ten digital video campaigns of 2017.

Depth

We sparked a genuine desire within our audience to dive deeper into Shell’s #makethefuture campaign. CTRs from Shell’s Gravity Light content and search activity peaked at an extraordinary 19.5%, indicating a real appetite amongst EEMs to find out more about Shell’s cleaner energy initiatives.