How a Small E-bike Brand from Vietnam Claimed Millions of Fast Charging Stations

In Vietnam, a country of gas bike drivers, people don’t believe their country is ready for electric vehicles. One main perception is the lack of charging stations. In a hope to change the public’s mind, electric bike company Dat Bike partnered with creative consultancy agency Happiness Saigon. Since their e-bike can be fast charged in any regular outlet, they created a guerilla campaign to claim every outlet as a Dat Bike fast charging station. 

Dat Bike, a made-in-Vietnam e-bike company, has always sought to change the public’s misconceptions about e-bikes. But in Vietnam, gas bikers still far outweigh e-bikers. The biggest obstacle for them to make the switch is the perceived lack of fast charging stations. 

So, Dat Bike and creative consultancy agency Happiness Saigon joined forces to change skeptics’ minds. Is there really a lack in Vietnam for Dat Bike users? 

A Dat Bike can be fast charged in any electrical outlet. Which means every outlet in the country is basically a fast charging station. Happiness Saigon and Dat Bike created custom billboards to highlight regular outlets as Dat Bike fast charging stations. 

These billboards turned office buildings, shopping malls, cafés,... all into Dat Bike’s own personal charging network. For residential households only, that makes up over 2,5 million* fast-charging outlets for the e-bike brand in Ho Chi Minh City alone. 

"Instead of racing to invest time, energy and technology into expensive fast charging stations, we put our effort into creating a superior product that can charge quickly from any household power outlet”, said Andrzej Bialasewicz, marketing director at Dat Bike. 

“By turning outlets into a new medium, we hope that every time you see one, you think: charging station. We aspire to turn a simple household object into a piece of branding”, says Jazz Tonna, creative director at Happiness Saigon.

After the custom billboards, even small businesses joined in by opening up their outlets as Dat Bike fast charging stations. 

In a later stage, the agency set off a guerrilla campaign with branded stickers to claim every outlet that was left. 

Thanks to the custom billboards, the small business plaques and guerrilla stickers, there is Dat Bike fast charging coverage all across Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s biggest city. Besides the orange signs popping up everywhere, the campaign sparked 2.100+ online discussions and 27.000 online engagement. This hack on regular household outlets sparked a national debate of skeptics’ perception of electric vehicles.

With a few well-placed signs, the small e-bike brand got free advertising space in the background of Vietnamese’s daily lives. Now, they own a branded fast charging network that even far outweighs the number of gas stations.