Background
Modern Coast is an intercity bus company based in Mombasa, Kenya. With over 30 buses travelling across Kenya, they were in the top 10 bus companies in the region. However, the only profitable route was the Mombasa – Nairobi one.
Client: Modern CoastServices: Strategy, ATL & BTL, Campaign Creation & Web DevelopmentYear: 2014 - 2019
Key Challenges
getting there
Modern Coast has four main divisions: Intercity Bus Travel, Courier Service, Clearing and Forwarding and Logistical Transport. Despite having a strong brand name in the other divisions and the best quality buses in the market combined with the safest accident track record and competitive pricing, they were not enticing the regional traveller.
Strategic Insights
packing for the trip
After conducting quantitative research and analysis of specific consumer groups, it was determined, that the key issues were the misconception that Modern Coast only provided transport to and from Mombasa and Nairobi, that the service was expensive and that competitors were imitating the branding and bringing confusion to the market. We also found that there was low brand penetration in rural areas.
Approach
catching the bus
We developed an ATL and BTL brand awareness campaign to build brand recognition. We coupled this with a strong educational campaign. Another innovation was the design of an online, mobile and SMS based platform to make ticket purchase more accessible and convenient. To round all this off we developed strong customer relationship management and social marketing on Facebook that also incorporated the aforementioned awareness and educational campaigns.
Outcome
This campaign saw a dramatic increase in revenue on cross-country routes. Consumer awareness, engagement and education on the product increased significantly as well and Modern Coast developed new routes in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania routes within 2 years. The brand also gained over 1 million Facebook followers.
