The most common way to travel in Philippines is the Jeepney. Known for its crowded seating and kitsch decorations, they are the universal symbol of Philippine culture. Manila is ranked 9th in the world for the worst traffic and jeepneys contribute heavily to the constant congestion. Jeepneys are basic transportation with no air conditioning and rarely have set stops on their routes. They are overcrowded and the traffic means that passengers spend 4 or more hours a day commuting. Our objective was to reach this urban population who are otherwise limited to entertainment and content. In a country that is yet to be acquainted with big data, our challenge was to target our audience with relevant content and integrate our brands into their daily lives.

People spend more time commuting than watching TV or browsing the internet, meaning entertainment was limited outside of these hours. We wanted to make these routine, overcrowded journeys more bearable. We launched the e-Jeepney service, a brand new public transport, with TV screens. We integrated Unilever’s brands into commuters’ lives, giving them relevant content, at the right time – when they wouldn’t usually have any access to any form of entertainment.

We turned this into an opportunity for Unilever, targeting a time when people wouldn’t have any exposure to our brands. The e-jeepney service was a cashless fare system and using data from pre-registered cards, GPS location of the vehicle, and the length of the journey, we were able to remotely serve entertainment tailored for the passengers.

We created a series of branded entertainment programming for Unilever brands, which was custom delivered to the profile of people in the e-Jeepney.

We created a series of branded entertainment programming for Knorr, Ponds, Rexona and many other Unilever brands. The on-board TV programming was custom delivered to the profile of the people in the e-Jeepney. For example, when the bus is full of moms in the morning to go to the supermarket, they see a Knorr recipe show. When there are young professionals going to work, they would see Rexona advertising, encouraging them to ‘Do more’. Our e-Jeepneys were wifi enabled, allowing passengers to interact.