Vodacom Anti-Hijack Ads

Vodacom is South Africa’s largest data and mobile telecommunications companies. Their brand purpose is rooted in using technology and the human spirit to go “Further Together”. This statement encourages people to use tech in order to solve real human problems.

We used digital ads and real crime data, combined with smart geo-located media placements, to change the experience of drivers in South Africa to a safer one. With South Africa’s roads being among the most dangerous in the world from car Hijackings – we mined the data to understand where the most dangerous roads were to divert drivers around them.Background

There are over 800 000 drivers in South Africa that use the navigational app Waze to move around the country. The problem is that the app takes the drivers on the fastest route to their destination, and not the safest.

In South Africa, there are over 30 000 hijackings reported in a year. There simply aren’t enough police to help bring down these numbers, leaving drivers vulnerable and at the mercy of criminals.

The current solution are street signs that are placed in crime hotspots to let drivers know when they are entering a high-risk area. But this effort is too late, only letting drivers know that they are at risk once they are already in the crime hotspot.

Vodacom, South Africa’s largest data and mobile telecommunications companies, wanted to find a way to keep our roads safer.

Idea

We created the mobile-driven “ANTI HIJACK ADS”; We bought hundreds of geo-located Waze ads around dangerous roads in South Africa, based on real-time crime data, and turned them into Hijack alerts that let drivers know when they are heading towards a crime hotspot area, and diverted them to safety with a simple tap on the banner.

​We cross-referenced national police data with car-tracker data and historical reports to determine the roads where most hijack incidents occurred. Once identified, we placed a geo-fence of real-time Waze ads around the most dangerous roads.

The ads were activated by the driver’s approach which alerted them of the possible danger ahead and gave them the option to be rerouted around the crime hotspot without having to change their end destination. The data-driven solution was easily and effortlessly designed around the user through the mobile app.

The efforts were bolstered by using real-time data to deploy live ads to new hijack zones as they were reported – focusing on high-risk periods and times of day. As the crimes happened, a new geo-fence was created and diverted oncoming drivers around the area at risk.

​The scale of Vodacom, matched with the affordable and easy-to-activate ads, means the brand can sustain these ads for a long time to come. We're using it to send to government, police and navigation platforms to lobby for it to be a more permanent solution.

Within the first two weeks, and with only 10 locations, we:
Reached 362,160 drivers
Rerouted an average of 200 drivers per day
Achieved double the engagement of Waze ads​
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