Description

inDrive Intercity is Kazakhstan’s leading service for travel between cities, covering over 1,500 routes. But in summer 2024, two major challenges emerged: the launch of Yandex’s Intercity mode and the perception gap among Gen Z, who viewed inDrive as outdated. We needed a campaign that would defend our leadership, highlight our broad coverage, and refresh our image for a younger audience.

Our strategy was built on a single insight: people across Kazakhstan are deeply connected to their hometowns. We brought this to life through a creative platform that worked on multiple levels. A national film used the nostalgic “game of cities” to highlight our relevance across different travel needs and regions. In parallel, a music-driven activation on TikTok engaged younger users through a cypher challenge with emerging and well-known Kazakh artists — turning hometown pride into a cultural wave and showing that inDrive connects them all.

The campaign delivered measurable impact. Despite already leading the intercity category, inDrive achieved +3.2% growth in new users during the summer peak (June–August 2024). Most notably, we shifted Gen Z perception: the brand attribute “modern” increased by +9 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

The TikTok-led cypher activation turned local pride into a cultural wave, generating 5.6 million organic views, 254 user-generated performances, and over 9 million in combined reach across TikTok and YouTube.

Credits

Valentina Kulikova - Marketing Lead Intercity
Kyunney Akimova - Marketing Manager CIS Intercity
Olga Golubok - Media Manager APAC
Alexander Ivanchuk - Digital Media Manager
Afanasiy Kirillin - Senior Digital Marketing Specialist
Temirlan Yermekov - SMM Manager CIS
Anastasia Kubakhova - Brand Activations Manager EMEA
Mikhail Naliukhin - Director, inlab
Anna Treneva - Marcom Manager, inlab
Irina Durova - Creative Team Leader EMEA, inlab
Stepan Durov - Creative Team Leader EMEA, inlab
Dauren Shubayev - Creator, inlab