Aramco, a leading energy company, recycled used tires into asphalt rubber for roads as a part of its carbon reduction and environmental awareness plans.
Objective
As part of Aramco's ambition to reduce emissions by 2025, its objective was to establish a blueprint for one successful sustainability initiative. The top priority was creating a positive impact on the environment. Additionally, its goals were to uplift Aramco's e-reputation score by 1.5 points and raise awareness about the environmental challenges in Saudi Arabia.
Context
Aramco sought to address unsolved regional sustainability challenges and a lack of environmental awareness. Saudi Arabia generates a staggering 20 million waste tires annually, but burning tires increases harmful emissions. Aramco's solution was to recycle tires into drivable roads, which introduced its "Tires to Roads" initiative. Using the principles of circular carbon economy, the company designed a model that recycles used tires into asphalt rubber for roads. Since this initiative was a new solution by Aramco and was unprecedented in Saudi, it could not be measured against previous efforts.
Target Audience
Due to the scale and nature of the idea, Aramco's audiences were:
Creative and Media Strategy
In place of focusing on advertising for this initiative, Aramco had an opportunity to bring in its technology to create a new model that would recycle tires and reduce the country's carbon footprint. The company designed and implemented the model, then raised awareness through education on social media and online reports about the environmental challenges in Saudi Arabia and how tires contribute to them. Aramco then rallied local businesses to adopt its approach.
In terms of budget allocation, all of it was utilized for the promotion of the educational video across various social channels to reach the target audiences. The largest portion was allocated to YouTube. In terms of subject-matter experts, the campaign's content inspired them to join the initiative. The content educated audiences on the overall challenges of waste tires and urged them to make a difference themselves in the future.
This campaign allowed Aramco to highlight its innovative solution and technology, aiming to create a meaningful impact. The media played a crucial supporting role in educating the audience about the broader environmental challenges. Aramco achieved this through a video that was extensively promoted on social media platforms. This video provided a clear explanation of the tire-recycling process and its integration into asphalt roads. Following this, Aramco engaged local businesses, encouraging them to adopt the same environmentally responsible approach.
Aramco's media strategy, encompassing both paid and owned channels, was strategically deployed to tap into its extensive follower base. This approach proved pivotal in the success of its initiative, considering the substantial reach and engagement levels typically associated with Aramco's platforms.
This initiative stands as a testament to Aramco's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and fostering environmental awareness within Saudia Arabia. It earned significant brand favor and has also propelled the company further down the path toward a sustainable future.
The initiative helped remove waste tires from landfills and recycled them for reuse in the asphalt rubber roads, resulting in a reduced carbon footprint. Furthermore, this initiative had a positive impact on the longevity of the roads by utilizing rubber instead of bitumen — a material used to pave roads and known for emissions — in the asphalt mix, resulting in fewer cracks and deformations and less noise on the roads.
The audience, especially subject-matter experts, received the campaign very positively, as they enthusiastically embraced and implemented Aramco's model.
The online reach was extensive — 2.5 million views on X, 5.7 million views on YouTube, 176,000 views on Instagram and Facebook, 412,000 views on LinkedIn — indicating that Aramco achieved one of its biggest goals: educating the audience about the environmental challenges and providing a viable solution to them.
