Through September and November 2019, Thrive collaborated across offices and across the country to launch ride share service DiDi into three new markets - the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Perth.
Across the three months, over 170 pieces of coverage were generated, with the campaigns reaching over 8.5 million people across the nation. The direct effect on DiDi’s business was evident, with thousands of new drivers and riders jumping on board with DiDi.
Driving this success was a carefully planned and executed PR strategy in collaboration with our client. In Perth, the team organised the pre-market announcement three weeks prior to the official launch in order to engage local drivers, encouraging them to sign up and drive with DiDi. This helped to create an air of excitement when DiDi finally arrived in Perth on Monday 4 November.
We organised and hosted a media call on the South Perth Foreshore, an iconic backdrop for the city, as all three major TV news stations attended (Channel 7, 9 and 10). As a result, coverage was exceptional with the news repeated across all three stations throughout the day and evening.
Similar activity happened across the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast the month prior, with media calls in each city resulting in broadcast coverage from all major TV news stations and coverage landing within both regions major print newspapers, Queensland’s statewide bulletins and Brisbane’s Courier Mail.
The Queensland Thrivers again worked closely with the DiDi comms team and coordinated a number of partnerships with local online outlets and radio stations, with car karaoke sessions and sponsored content further building hype of the affordable rideshare service after the initial launch to market.
With DiDi’s launch into more Australian markets on the horizon, watch this space and come along for the ride.