E-bike brand turns e-bikes into emergency generators, helping small businesses survive blackouts

How can a start-up disrupt a market when 90% of it is owned by multinationals? In Vietnam, e-bike brand Dat Bike accomplished that by embracing their small business identity. In a campaign by Happiness Saigon, the brand turned their e-bikes into mobile emergency generators, helping out other small businesses survive the country’s common blackouts.

In Vietnam, the motorbike market is dominated by multinationals. For an e-bike brand such as Dat Bike, it’s hard to disrupt the market on a start-up budget. Even with an e-bike battery that is 2 times more powerful than the competition and bi-directional. But what if the brand actually leaned into their identity as a small business to promote the superiority of the product?

Blackouts in Vietnam have risen 300%. This is especially a problem for the country’s many small business owners, resulting in a serious loss of revenue. 

In the latest campaign by Happiness Saigon, Dat Bike’s e-bikes were turned into emergency power generators, helping small business owners to survive during these blackouts. A hotline service was launched to connect the owners with a local Dat Biker and their fully charged e-bike.

A full charge of the Dat Bike is able to power the lights and 2 freezers of a small convenience store for 3-4 hours. Thanks to this initiative, over 200 small business were powered in the first week only. The brand also saw a 300% increase in orders.

“We are long past the point where electric vehicles are subpar to combustion vehicles. Unfortunately, the perception remains somewhat different in Vietnam. With Re:Charge, we turned our biggest weakness into a huge strength”, says Jazz Tonna, Partner and Creative Director at Happiness Saigon.

With this campaign, Dat Bike shows that they are not only made in Vietnam, but also made for Vietnam. With $0 of PR or media investment, the e-bike brand earned 57% share of conversation. Not bad for a start-up competing with multinationals.

Source: Happiness Saigon

  Campaign, Dat Bike, Happiness Saigon, Marketing, Vietnam