Tunisie Telecom was well aware that the country’s beaches are notorious for poor 3G network reception. But this was not the only frustration for beachgoers last summer. A rubbish strike by municipality officers had turned the beaches into an open dumping ground. It was becoming an environmental disaster as uncollected rubbish piled up.

We had an idea: Tunisie Telecom could create a movement to clean up Tunisia’s beaches. It could offer its new 3G++ mobile connectivity on the beach in exchange for rubbish collected. So we could demonstrate Tunisie Telecom’s 3G++ service while simultaneously inspiring and enabling beachgoers to clean up the beaches. And by publicizing the initiative through broadcast, print and social media, we could spread the word beyond the beaches, securing participation, publicity, sales and goodwill for the Tunisie Telecom brand.

We placed ‘TT Smart Converters’ on six of the worst-affected beaches with a live launch on several radio and TV stations. This focus on beaches covered with rubbish at the start of summer, combined with our solution, put the rubbish strike high on the media agenda. Two major local TV channels and the top six radio stations covered the campaign amid 150 significant stories in print and online, including several international publications. This generated PR coverage worth an estimated USD 1 million. Sales increased by over 5%, we had the most viewed video on YouTube and more than 35,000 video shares on Facebook. This was how we created a movement called ‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’.

The campaign took place over three successive weekends on the six worst-affected beaches in August and September. The beaches are far more popular on weekends.

Tunisie Telecom installed ‘TT Smart Converters’ – specially-designed units with a digital screen, rubbish bin, wireless weighing scale and optical fibre connected to terminals emitting 3G++ connection. A short film on-screen carried the key message: “Keep our beaches clean… 1 Gb of mobile internet connection will be offered for 1kg of trash collected.”

In less than an hour, the ‘TT Smart Converter’ units were emitting 3G++ connectivity on all six beaches.

Next, we spread the word beyond the beaches. As part of connection, beachgoers could broadcast a message from Tunisie Telecom –‘Keep our beaches clean’ – to all their Facebook Friends and Twitter followers. Beachgoers also received a link to another short film hosted on Tunisie Telecom’s YouTube channel explaining why a clean-up was critical.

The response was remarkable. More than 1,200 people began collecting rubbish and placed it in our ‘TT Smart Converters’. Over 830 people connected to the 3G++ service. ‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’ was the most viewed video on YouTube that month with 280,000 views and 20,000 messages of support posted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

After the campaign, Tunisie Telecom’s 3G++ brand image index increased by 31%, reaching 78% – well beyond our 60% target. From August to September, 3G++ sales were up 5.2% compared to our 3% target. Amazing media attention resulted in major TV news channel coverage while our ‘Keep Our Beaches Clean’ film was hosted on the websites of the six highest-rated radio stations. Meanwhile, more than 150 print and online publications covered the clean up. Social media played a vital role in spreading the word. There were 35,000 video shares on Facebook, for example.