MASTERCARD | Roadside Market | 2020
Turning farmers who just waited by the roadside into businesses on the map / Mastercard "Roadside Market"
On Romania's rural roads, you'll find farmers sitting with homemade vegetables and cheese laid out for sale. They're not on any map, and they can only take cash. A business that doesn't officially exist.
The problem
Small-scale farmers in Romania can't get into official markets, so selling by the roadside is their only option. 99.9% of them can't even get a card payment terminal. COVID made things worse by shrinking public markets even further.
The insight
If you can't bring the farmers to a big market, bring the market to the farmers instead. The idea was to put the farmers themselves on Waze, the map drivers already check every day.
The idea
Mastercard teamed up with Waze to mark roadside farmers as pins on the navigation map. Drivers could spot "there's fresh produce right there" as they drove past. Cashless payment was also introduced for the farmers, turning cash-only roadside stalls into proper little shops.
What happened
All five major TV networks in Romania covered the campaign, and within 48 hours it had an estimated OTS of 28 million. Within days, more than 300 farmers asked to take part, and even the Minister of Agriculture offered to help expand it. The campaign won awards in three categories at Cannes Lions.
Afterthought
Just being on the map was enough to change someone's livelihood. Behind every single pin is someone who used to just sit by the side of the road.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2020
