E-bike Brand Turns e-Bikes into Emergency Generators, Helping Small Businesses Survive Blackouts

May. 29, 2024

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.

Jazz Tonna, Partner and Creative Director at Happiness Saigon said:

"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."

 

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.