In an abundance of alternative energy vehicles, AxiCom’s client Intelligent Energy wanted its collaboration with Lotus and LTI to create the world’s first “green” Black London cab to stand out and grab headlines across the world. 

The Challenge

A poster-child for the UK’s cleantech sector, Intelligent Energy was able to engage with the London Assembly and the mayor’s office to gain important political support and the superb City Hall venue for the launch.  AxiCom’s role was to ensure the attendance and attention of the cream of the world’s media and to maximise the on-line, print, broadcast and social media coverage.

The Strategy

Positioning the Hydrogen Fuel powered black cab as the ultimate reconciliation of Green movement and the automotive sector, the announcement focussed on the contribution it would make to the Mayor of London’s 2025 target of a 60% reduction in the city’s CO2 pollution.     

AxiCom constructed a multi-activity launch that would appeal to the demands of press from across the world news TV channels, national newspapers, wire services, alternative energy publications, automotive trade news-sites and even cabbie bloggers.  Held at the London Living Room at the top of City Hall next to the iconic Tower Bridge, the launch detailed the significance of the news from multiple angles including its engineering genius, macro environmental effect and practical introduction of the green taxi to the streets of London.  

Concluding with a forthright address from Kit Malthouse, deputy mayor for London, on the imperatives of provisioning green transport for the city, the press were able to examine the Hydrogen-powered cabs in person, while trade and automotive press were invited to test drive the taxi at the Lotus testing facility in Norfolk.

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London, takes to the streets in London's first zero-emissions black cab.

The Results

As soon as the covers were lifted, the new Black Cab became a media star.  An excited audience outside City Hall, comprising investors, partners and top-tier media, celebrated and applauded the launch.  Covering the event from the world’s major media were CNN, Sky News and Bloomberg and the news reached a global audience through replays and syndication reported by the 30+ press that had 1-2-1 interactions with Intelligent Energy.   And when the totting up was done, AxiCom generated over 100 pieces of broadcast, online and print coverage with a global audience reach of more than 384,000,000 worldwide.

The press conference  to launch the "Green" Black Cab

Alongside these traditional media channels, AxiCom coordinated an onsite social media campaign, live-Tweeting as the event unfolded and Twit-pic’ing along the way.  Targeting not just CleanTech sector bloggers , but also London’s Cabbie Twitterati, AxiCom nurtured and grew the discussion – and after just two days, the social media activity had generated more than 2,000 Intelligent Energy brand interactions through Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr.

Following the launch event AxiCom supported an ongoing series of road tests aimed squarely at automotive specialists from both trade and tier 1 media, highlights included extensive coverage in BBC, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph.  This continued activity contributed to a further 140 online and print articles and building total potential reading figures to an astonishing 615,000,000 people globally.