Heetch Goes Beyond Other Ride-Sharing Apps with Stereotype-Smashing Campaign

“Ghettos, poor neighbourhoods, dormitory towns, concrete blocks, socially troubled places where idleness and boredom reign...”  For decades, the media has too often conveyed a stereotyped image of the suburbs.

These approximations or blunders tinged with opportunism come most of the time from people who don’t have a deep understanding of the reality on the ground. With more than 80% of trips made daily in the suburbs, and most of its drivers and passengers being from places like Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers, Créteil, Pantin, Bobigny and Vitry-sur-Seine, Heetch knows the suburbs like the back of its hand.  

That's why this ride-hail VTC brand offers another vision, beyond stereotypes, clichés and shock-horror headlines. In collaboration with agency BETC, Heetch celebrates the suburbs and those who bring them to life on a daily basis through a joyful, sunny ode directed by Kourtrajmeuf (ICONOCLAST productions), a collective of former students of Kourtrajmé, the film school located in the heart of the city of the Les Bosquets housing estate in Montfermeil in Seine-Saint-Denis.

Olivier Aumard, creative director at BETC, says: “This year we celebrate our 10th anniversary. That’s how many years we’ve been fighting for more inclusive mobility, in other words getting a historically very Parisian service to cross over the Paris ring road. It was therefore essential for us to pay tribute to the very strong link that exists between Heetch and all these suburban housing estates that are often misunderstood, and looked down upon, while they are full of incredible energy and each have a singular identity that defines their charm.

"By putting together these media sound bites from 1960 to the present day, we realise the impact that a reductive, stigmatising vision of the suburbs can have. With Kourtrajmeuf we crisscrossed the suburbs to show it in a light too often forgotten and which contrasts with this media background noise."