Many children in rural South Africa face a daily walk to school of 6 km or more. That’s why they often arrive late, are tired or unable to fully participate in the learning process. To change this UBS decided to do the walking for them. The company partnered with the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos and invited 1,000 world and business leaders to take action for better education in Africa. By walking the same distance as a school child does during their stay in Davos. For every 6 kilometers walked, UBS donated a bicycle to a South African school child. Because bikes help them get to school faster, more learning time can be achieved.

To get the delegates walking participants received special Fitbit wristbands that measured their steps. Terminals all over Davos displayed all steps walked, the number of bicycles already achieved and how this is improving learning in Africa. Also a competitive twist was added. That way the delegates could easily find out whether they were also top performers for education. In the end more than 11 thousand km were walked resulting in 2,500 bikes.

Kilometers were crunched and bikes were earned by CEOs, politicians, academics and visionaries. And all this walking didn’t go unnoticed. In fact it was one of the most covered topics in Davos history. Publishers such as Huffington Post and broadcasters such as CNN reported about the project and tweets were sent among participants. Not only publicity was gained but dialogues were created.

As the participants of the World Economic Forum have a full meeting schedule, the challenge was to engage them in a way they are not confronted with additional effort. Unlimited access to the project was necessary. A microsite was developed and optimized for both desktop and mobile. Terminals were installed and located at the congress centre, in several hotels and the UBS branch in Davos. Every minute, screens in Swiss UBS branches showed live statistics. Different touch points were realized and participants had the chance to view their personal statistics whenever they wanted, also via their own digital devices.

The use of data was the core of the project. Without generating data, no bikes could be donated and the project would have been obsolete. Therefore, it was obligatory that all 1,000 Fitbits were handed out to delegates who were keen on participating as their distance walked was tracked and resulted in bike donations.