Opportunity
QBE Insurance launched a major Road Safety campaign in South Australia as part of its commitment to reducing the state’s road toll. It’s the highest per capita in Australia, with 100 fatalities recorded last year—a 16% rise on the previous year.
In developing the strategic approach for the campaign, The Core Agency applied behavioural science theories, showing how people are more likely to make changes when large tasks are broken down into small individual ones, to appear less daunting.
Core Idea
The creative idea was to place South Australian children at the heart of the campaign to draw on the emotional connection with their parents. The overarching message is that if we all change one small thing about the way we drive, we can all be safe on the roads.
The commercial the children created was then revealed to their parents at a special event at their school. Within the creative, the children share their treasured moments captured in family photographs.
These photos then become a visual metaphor for cars – crashing into trees, lamp posts, and each other. Shot in super slow-motion, the visual is intended to show how much devastation a vehicle impact can have, in particular on the families involved.
Results
The campaign made an immediate impact. The launch was picked up by breakfast TV, newspapers and international marketing websites. In fact, it generated 82 media stories across 38 publications and TV channels. QBE’s PR partner has estimated the value of the media coverage to be in excess of $15m.
And the post-campaign research results are compelling:
· 6% Increase in brand awareness post campaign
· 6% Increase in brand consideration post campaign
· 78% of respondents stating they will take more care while driving
· Reached over 15.2 million people (SA population only 1.6 million)
The single most rewarding result was that the campaign helped reduce road fatalities in South Australia during 2018.
Bettina Pidcock, Chief Customer Officer at QBE Australia & New Zealand said:
“There’s nothing more important than keeping our roads safe for everyone. We hope the authenticity of this content will help this critical message cut through to drivers and encourage them to make small commitments to changing their behaviour.”