Description

OLX: Making hidden value visible. A Strategy to unlock a nation's potential.

The Challenge: A crisis of confidence, not just commerce.
After the 2022 invasion, Ukraine's micro-business economy was shattered. But beyond the economic collapse, we faced a deeper challenge rooted in perception. For potential entrepreneurs, OLX was seen as a "second-hand flea market" — a place for old things, not new value.

This perception created a crisis of confidence. How could people believe in the commercial potential of their own craft, if the platform itself was associated with used goods? Our strategic challenge was to transform OLX from a place that sells old value to a platform that reveals and validates new value.

The insight: people create value they rarely see.
To solve this, we looked past the functional needs of sellers and uncovered a powerful psychological barrier. We realized that from homemade jam and garage-built furniture to hand-sewn dresses, people create immense value they often fail to recognize themselves. They possess the skill and the product, but they lack the commercial confidence to see it as a "real business."

This led to our core strategic insight: OLX's role is not to create entrepreneurs, but to make the value they already create visible by connecting it to the undeniable proof of active buyer demand.

The creative strategy: from revealing value to building a business.
Our creative strategy was born directly from this insight. If our job was to make hidden value visible, our creative had to do exactly that, step-by-step.

Spotlight the craft to reveal its inherent value: Our primary strategy was to show the products of our heroes not as humble crafts, but as objects of worth. We used a cinematic, high-end visual style and meticulous art direction for a specific strategic reason: to visually mirror and amplify the value of the creators' work. The beautiful execution made their talent undeniable, both to themselves and to the audience.

Visualize the connection to prove demand: The creative idea of interlinking our heroes became the ultimate proof of our insight. It was a visual demonstration of the moment value becomes visible. One person's "homemade" item (the carpenter's cat house) is shown as a cherished object in another's home, validating its worth and proving that real demand exists.

Name the transformation: The brand platform "OLX. Where Business Begins" served as the logical conclusion of this process. It's the name for the moment when a creator's hidden value, once made visible and connected to demand, officially transforms into a business.

Execution: a journey from validation to an action.
The strategy was executed as a seamless journey. The TV campaign acted as a large-scale "spotlight," revealing and validating the work of makers across the country. This emotional validation then drove them to the "OLX Business Hub," a platform with practical tools that empowered them to act on their newfound confidence and formally start their business.

The results:
By shifting our focus from providing a functional tool to revealing hidden human potential, our strategy unlocked massive growth.
The validation of value creation led to a surge in commercial activity, with Revenue growing by +54% and Daily Active Sellers increasing by +26%.
The strategy successfully positioned OLX as a place for new value, driving +258% more unique visitors to the Business Hub.
The message of empowerment resonated deeply, with ad recall +74% above the benchmark.
Ultimately, our creative strategy proved that by making hidden value visible for 100,000+ entrepreneurs, we could help rebuild not just their confidence, but a vital part of the national economy.

Sources: OLX internal data, SimilarWeb, OLX BI data

Campaign period - 18/09/2023 – 05/11/2023

Credits

OLX Ukraine:
E-com Marketing Director OLX Europe: Andriy Vasyliev
Senior marketing manager: Alyona Horkovenko

TOBEDONE Agency:
Creative director: Mira Chinar
Senior Copywriter: Danylo Tertychnyi
Designer: Slava Kobzenko

Production:
NOSTARS Ukraine