Saudi Arabia is experiencing a major digital boom. Numerous new businesses, including several food delivery apps from international giants with substantial budgets, have emerged suddenly. How can Hungerstation, the first food delivery app in Saudi Arabia, maintain and strengthen its position as the leading and most innovative food delivery service in town?
Strategy
Saudi Arabia is undergoing a significant period of growth and expansion, particularly in the realm of business and technology. The arrival of numerous new enterprises, including multiple food-delivery applications from established global companies with ample funding, has created a highly competitive market. In this context, it is essential for Hungerstation – the first and pioneering food delivery application in Saudi Arabia – to focus on innovation and differentiate itself from its competitors and maintain its status as the leading food delivery app in the country. To achieve this, it was crucial to look for ways to improve its offerings and stay ahead of the curve in terms of technology and customer service. And by leveraging social media effectively, Hungerstation could potentially reach a wider audience. By doing so, Hungerstation can ensure that it remains the go-to choice for consumers in search of convenient and reliable food-delivery services in Saudi Arabia.
Idea
Let the Subconscious mind do the ordering. For the first time ever, a food delivery service introduces a new and smart feature that allows users to order food online by harnessing the power of their subconscious mind. On average, an adult spends approximately 132 hours a year looking at mind-numbing menus online before deciding what to eat, frequently resulting in the wrong call. Psychologists refer to it as “Choice Overload”. A state when the brain is faced with an overwhelming number of options and struggles to make a decision, often ending up making the wrong call… A study by Dr. Bruce Lipton revealed that the conscious mind can only process 40 bits of information per second, while the subconscious mind processes information at a rate of up to 500,000 times faster. This prompted the idea of helping people connect better with their subconscious mind to find the answers they seek.
Execution
A new feature on the HungerStation app recognizes you’ve been hopelessly scrolling and launches the subconscious ordering tool. A variety of mouth-watering cuisines are displayed as the camera meticulously tracks the eye’s interest using advanced algorithms and the front-facing camera. A smart AI uses proprietary Food Topic Modelling to narrow down the options and presents a data report of what the eye concentrated on the most, or what the subconscious mind is craving. This provides the user with a list of relevant restaurants to order from. The new and innovative feature did not live only inside the Hungerstation’s app, we even replicated the experience on social media, giving every person in Saudi Arabia the opportunity to harness the power of their subconscious. The tool also demonstrates ‘compressed commerce’ in action – which can be understood as the desire for consumers to get from inspiration to purchase as quickly as possible.
Results
Soon after its launch, subconscious ordering became a thing, leaving us with a banquet of new data for more accurate and personal targeting in the future. By helping Saudis awaken their subconscious mind to ordering the food they love, we gained a cosy corner in their conscious mind for years to come. In 2 weeks: 2.5M impressions ; 630K portal visits ; 78K new customers ; 6K new customers per day.
Awards
Credits
Brand: Hunger Station. Advertising Agency: Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Production: Wunderman Thompson, Seattle (USA).
Wunderman Thompson
Global Chief Creative Officer: Daniel Bonner. Global Chief Creative Officer: Bas Korsten. Chief Creative Officer: Chafic Haddad. Executive Creative Director: Rayyan Aoun. Creative Director: Firas Ghannam. Senior Art Director: Bashar Dababneh. Copywriter: Alanoud Alassaf. Global Lead, Creative Data: Jason Carmel. Experience Technology Director: Shawn Herron. Creative Director: Matt Gilmore. Business Director: Karim Sioufi. Account Director: Wessam Al Najjar. Director Data Science: Ilinca Barsan. Senior Analyst, Data Science: Caroline Buck.
Hunger Station
Marketing Director: Ahmad Chatila. Marketing Manager: Muhannad Abunazzal. Marketing Communication Supervisor: Noora Alissa. Creative Manager: Abdulrahman Alkhatib.
