what3words
Service
Consumer PR
Industry
Consumer Tech
(Overview)
What3words is a geolocation app that divides the world into 3m x 3m squares. The pioneering system has simplified addressing across the world and is used globally by emergency services to identify exact locations in remote and rural areas. R. Agency was briefed to encourage downloads of the app by communicating its life-saving role in a crisis. Creating the bi-annual Know Exactly Where campaign, R. Agency created a partnership with the British Emergency Services to encourage downloads ahead of summer and winter travel.
(Project Details)
Summer and Christmas are the busiest times for travel in the UK, leading to an increase in the number of accidents. Using this insight and leveraging a relationship with the British Emergency Services, R. Agency created Know Exactly Where, encouraging downloads ahead of travel. R. Agency created a bank of research from consumers and emergency services. Only 14% of adults would feel confident explaining an unfamiliar location. Over half (56%) of emergency service operators receive daily calls from people who struggle to describe their location. These insights were packaged for media, alongside case studies of all users who had successfully used the app in an emergency situation.
What3words (w3w) has divided the world into 3m x 3m squares. The pioneering system enables precise location sharing, which is particularly important in rural areas and countries with poor addressing systems. The technology allows users to easily find friends and locations and can also be used with emergency services, cutting response times by up to 10 minutes. It is for this reason that the technology is used by emergency response teams across the world. R. Agency was briefed to drive downloads and weekly active users for app, highlighting its life-saving use case.
Results
During Know Exactly Where week, for the first time ever, what3words topped the app charts, overtaking Google Maps and Waze. All 10 case studies were interviewed by national, regional or community-specific press and were quoted telling their personal stories, from horse riding incidents to OAPs falling on a walk. The location technology is now used by over 85% of UK emergency services and breakdown providers. Know Exactly Where Week has run for more than five years.
