Description

Nowruz is one of the most significant holidays in Central Asia. It symbolizes the beginning of the new year, spring, and the renewal of nature. People prepare national dishes, visit relatives and friends, strengthening social and cultural ties.

Although Nowruz is traditionally a time for visiting, taxi rides have decreased in recent years compared to regular periods.

Our goal was to reduce the drop in rides and integrate the brand into the cultural context to make it closer to the local audience.

Hospitality seems to be something the people of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan are born with. We decided to embrace this tradition, dive into it, and highlight it.

It all began with the launch of a festive "Holiday service class" ride option, so the holiday mood could start right from the taxi ride:
Nowruz is all about gatherings — and with Yandex Go, you can visit everyone you care about, easily and without stress.

As part of the campaign, we created themed illustrations and applied them to over 300 Yandex Go cars. Each participating country featured unique designs inspired by festive traditional colors.

It continued with outdoor, digital and social media communication.

The culmination was the festive offline Yandex Go brand zones. According to Kazakh tradition, on Nowruz, you need to visit seven houses, and then your new year will be happy and successful. We built six houses, and you can choose which one will be the seventh and go there using the Holiday service fare. In Tashkent, there was a similar brand zone, but with an emphasis on the unique culture of Uzbekistan.

Our houses welcomed guests with traditional entertainment, gifts, and the chance to take memorable photos — all through warm and natural interaction with the brand.

The campaign ran at the same time in three countries. We took into account the national characteristics of each country to make all activities close and understandable to our audience.

We seamlessly integrated Yandex Go into the Nowruz atmosphere and managed to increase the number of rides during the holiday period. At the same time, we showed people that the brand supports their traditions and strives to be there for them in meaningful moments.

Key KPI Results:

— Increased the number of rides during the Nowruz period: the Holiday service class was used 765,000 times, exceeding the planned 500,000 rides (results for 10 days in the participating countries).

— Achieved a total reach of 19.5 million for advertising materials within the Yandex Go app (compared to a planned 16 million); 11 million unique users were reached.

— 800,000 users interacted with campaign materials on external platforms — tapping or clicking through to the Yandex Go app (compared to a planned 600,000). Of these, 450,000 were from Kazakhstan, where we achieved a high conversion rate of 14%.

— Over 4,000 people visited our themed houses, located in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

The holidays begin with a ride and go on with family and friends ☺️❤️

Credits

Vasilii Podtynnikov, Creative Director, Yandex Magic Camp
Anna Kanikovskaya, Senior Producer, Yandex Magic Camp
Anastasia Turkina, Art Director, Yandex Magic Camp
Maria Makarcheva, Copywriter, Yandex Magic Camp
Mitya Meshcheryakov, Head of Studio, Yandex Magic Camp
Robert Lashin, Senior Strategist, Yandex Go
Elina Chernyshova, Head of CIS Marketing Group, Yandex Go
Daria Bashkova, Anton Makarov, Ekaterina Sinitsyna, Marketing Managers, Yandex Go
Yulia Nesteruk, Head of Events Group, Yandex Go
Production: SPOT
Yulia Tatarchenko, Photographer