King of the burbs / While Paris’ ridesharing market is dominated by bigger players such as Uber and Bolt, Heetch is firmly associated with the city’s suburbs, or ‘La Banlieue’. In 2016, Heetch reported that more than 70% of its passengers come from and go to the suburbs (22% do not even pass through Paris). Home to between 10 million and 12.5 million residents (according to Heetch), the banlieue is where the majority of Parisians reside, compared to just 2.1 million living within the Boulevard Périphérique (a dual-carriageway ring road around Paris proper). Over the years, negative portrayals of poverty, gang violence, racial tensions and poor upkeep in the banlieue have been perpetuated by the media, such as films such as La Haine (1995) and Les Misérables (2019) – not another adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, but a gritty picture of life on a Paris estate amidst mounting tensions with the police.
This is not the first time Heetch has challenged such perceptions: in May 2023 the app celebrated its 10th anniversary with a film made by BETC and production studio Iconoclast that championed the suburbs and those who live there. Set in the Les Bosquets housing estate in Montfermeil in Seine-Saint-Denis, The Ride-hailing App That Goes the Furthest film juxtaposed derogatory statements about the banlieue with clips of the people, culture and beauty that exist there. Similarly, the brand’s 2022 World Cup campaign, Heetch Origins, rewarded banlieue residents with free rides every time a player from the banlieue scored (highlighting just how many French players originate from the suburbs of Paris).
Since most of its drivers and passengers are from banlieue towns like Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers, Créteil, Pantin, Bobigny and Vitry-sur-Seine, campaigns like this reinforce Heetch’s position as an authority on the banlieue; Uber might rule central Paris, but no ride-hailing company knows the banlieue like Heetch.
Traditional solutions for modern problems / There’s something pleasing about Heetch’s low-tech, analogue solution to an AI-based problem; the postcards can easily be distributed, and they are accessible to a wide audience that might not be fully fluent in the world of generative AI. By placing these physical media placements in venues across the Paris suburbs, Heetch went straight to the source, targeting its audience where they live and work. As a challenger brand in a crowded and competitive space, it’s another low-budget banger from Heetch, which previously targeted its Goliath competitor through an awareness-raising packaging stunt with $0 media budget. Whether or not those postcards make it to Silicon Valley and end up influencing Midjourney’s content, they represent Heetch taking a stance against bleak and reductive portrayals of the banlieue and prove that creative ideas needn’t cost the earth or incorporate cutting-edge technology.
