CALLED TO TRAVEL

In Kazakh culture, names carry deep meaning. When choosing a child’s name, families give a “batá” — a blessing for their destiny and future. A batá is believed to hold sacred power and positive influence. But in reality, many Kazakhstanis with inspiring names have never traveled in their lives. Sayakhat, meaning “Travel”, has never left the country. Mukhit "Ocean" has never touched the waves. And Erkin “Freedom” spends every day at work.

Problem

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, only 8 150 688 Kazakhstanis had international passports. That means at least 60.3% of the country had never been abroad. Kazakhstan is vast. But the real distance wasn’t measured in miles. Caught in the daily grind, people forgot to dream about travel.

Solution

Every airport in the world has a unique 3-letter IATA code. All this time, travel was closer than it ever seemed. With its manifesto, Freedom Travel (flight ticket booking service in Kazakhstan) reminded people that inside every Kazakhstani’s name lives a batá — a blessing that carries the destiny of a traveler. So we turned every Kazakhstani’s name into a personal invitation to travel by asking just one question. Because everyone is called to travel.
We had an idea, but no script. So we replaced it with 12 hours of interviews. We found 8 people with inspiring names who had never traveled outside Kazakhstan — and simply started asking questions. Their answers became the manifesto.

Results

300K+ unique website visitors in week one 51.6M impressions 9.8M reach +14K new international ticket buyers in one month 300K+ international tickets sold in one month (+143.2% YoY / 2.43x growth)