The #BoardTheBus social media campaign was run by Breakthrough and Sparklin to encourage women in Delhi to feel safe taking buses. It used Facebook, Twitter, and a game website to raise awareness of women's safety issues on buses and get women to pledge to ride buses. The campaign engaged its target audiences through sharing personal stories and experiences, hosting online discussions and competitions. It culminated with on-ground events like flash mobs and a trip on an actual bus on International Women's Day. The campaign was recognized in the media and saw significant engagement across its social media platforms and microsite.

1. Social Media Case Study
How Breakthrough ran a social media campaign for
a social cause - #BoardTheBus via Sparklin

2. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 2 of 19
Brand
BreakThrough is a unique global human rights organization that believes that human
rights begin in our own hearts, homes and actions.
https://www.facebook.com/LetsBreakthrough
https://www.facebook.com/BellBajao
Agency
Sparklin is a branding and interactive design agency with strong focus on function.
https://www.facebook.com/WeAreSparklin
http://sparklin.com/
Target Audience
Primary TA: Women in Sec B and C who commute using private vehicles, metro, auto,
taxis etc, but not buses.
Secondary TA: Males who travel in the bus

3. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 3 of 19
Social Objective
Creating a connection between women who don't travel by bus and those who do as they
share the same stories. Women in Delhi do not feel safe in buses and hence are boarding
alternate modes of transportation. They must accept that it is a space and they have a
right to occupy. By boarding the bus, women are creating the conversation around safety
and security in public spaces. Their actions today determine how Delhi will act tomorrow.
Campaign Objective
Engage the target audience on social media to:
1) Convey a Simple Message
2) Build Engagement
3) Generate an Action

4. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 4 of 19
Campaign Idea
Board The Bus is a campaign by Breakthrough aims at creating a public conversation
around the safety of women in public spaces and generate an action. The campaign is
scheduled from 14th Feb’14 till 8th Mar’14.
The key elements of the campaign are:
1) #BoardTheBusmicrosite featuring the #boardthebus game
2) On-ground Even: Flash Mobs
3) Facebook Pages: Breakthrough and Bell Bajao
4) Twitter: Breakthrough and Bell Bajao
The campaign culminates with celebration of Women’s Day on-ground and the
declaration of our Winner of the online game - Board the Bus. The same is accompanied
by an on-ground event, calling out people to board the bus for real with Team
Breakthrough on Women’s Day.

5. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 5 of 19
Campaign Execution
Phase 1: Teaser: Teaser posts and tweets were
developed to create buzz around the city. Capturing
images of people from across Delhi holding
#boardthebus banners and posting the same on
facebook, twitter. A day long teaser, where images
being captured by us and by many others who noticed
the banners on the road, creating a buzz about what
#boardthebus is all about.
Phase 2: Campaign Launch: The campaign launch
began with explaining the objective of the campaign,
pushing facts and establishing the gravity of the
situation. The primary platform for this phase was
Twitter which helped us generate facts, experiences
about travel in buses and conversations with opinion
leaders on why people must #boardthebus. The facts
and opinions were shared across other platforms to
generate awareness about the campaign and convey a
simple message. News articles regarding the issue were posted and discussed.

6. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 6 of 19
Phase 3: Engagement: While twitter helped convey a simple message, we used Twitter
to generate user generated solutions for this issue. We tied up with organizations
working for a similar issue.
Meanwhile, understanding Facebook as a medium, we designed content which was
visual heavy and could easily go viral. We designed memes that people can easily relate
to. Questions were asked related to the memes and people guessed which celebrity
would own this bus.
Various videos are created to disseminate the message of #boardthebus. Voxpop videos
are created so as to give a platform for women to share their experiences. An animated
video is also produced for the same.
http://goo.gl/WfydFL
http://goo.gl/UYBMbq
Paranoma Photo of the Flash Mob: ow.ly/uc8KG

7. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 7 of 19
Phase 4: Generate an Action: Once the audience understood the campaign, shared their
views and experiences, we took it a step further and made boarding the bus fun for them.
We launched our #boardthebus game (http://brkth.ru/OCA1hc)

8. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 8 of 19
The game allowed the users to sign up through Facebook and own a customized bus.
They could also board other buses. Once they own a bus, they set out on a pre-decided
route that takes them to the famous places in Delhi. Various trivia (related to safety of
women) based quests are designed for the player to go from one destination to another.
Points can be earned with every newly resolved quest. Facebook and twitter content
drives traffic to the microsite, informing about new quests and announcing the leader
board every day.
Social media is also used to promote the on-ground events, including flash mobs at
colleges in Delhi and the #boardthebus finale event on 8th March, inviting people to CP
to board an actual bus.

9. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 9 of 19
Rewards offered to the daily and the ultimate winner
The daily winners (based on points earned on that day) are awarded with customized
campaign Mugs and T-Shirts.
The winner of the complete game at the end of the campaign tenure completing in the
fastest time period gets ‘two flight return tickets from Delhi to Mumbai’. The runners up
get ‘Dinner for Two at 1911, The Imperial, Delhi’.

10. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 10 of 19
Campaign Recognition
1) A contest organized by FLOW chose #boardthebus project as the most innovative
and creative activity on Women’s Day 2014. http://goo.gl/bGKvAq
2) Times of India covered Board the Bus campaign http://goo.gl/ZU0nmm

11. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 11 of 19
2) Stop Street Harassment published a write-up about Board the Bus campaign. Stop
Street Harassment is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting and ending
gender-based street harassment worldwide. http://goo.gl/bD1ZPp
4) Jezebel.com published a write up: "Board the Bus' seeks to empower women to take
back public spaces. http://goo.gl/QqkLbh

12. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 12 of 19
Tweet Mentions
Breakthrough

13. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 13 of 19
Bell Bajao

14. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 14 of 19

15. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 15 of 19
Facebook Interactions
Breakthrough

16. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 16 of 19

17. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 17 of 19
Bell Bajao

18. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 18 of 19
Results of th Social Media Campaign
Facebook:
Page Page
Likes
Comments Post
Likes
Total
Engagement
Shares
Breakthrough 522 178 5781 22,351 358
Bell Bajao 780 154 2789 16,337 210
Twitter:
Page Retweets Replies Followers Favourites Mentions
Breakthrough 439 63 204 184 400
Bell Bajao 256 167 111 127 719
Use of hashtag #boardthebus-527

19. Branding + Interaction Design
Delhi office: 130/2, Masjid Moth,
South Extension II, New Delhi
#BoardTheBus Socia Media : 19 of 19
Website:
Facebook Sign ups-1533
#boardthebus pictureupload and tagging-630
Friends’ Invited-3500
Page Viewers-12,262
Unique Visits from India-6693
Total Visits-7794