Bauer Media has been trusted to promote the Department for Transport’s new road safety campaign.
Negotiated by Carat Sponsorship, the campaign will run under it’s celebrity title Closer. The campaign aims to reduce child death and injuries through four advertorials and an insert game and poster supplement in the magazine. The Government’s THINK! Road Safety campaign also targets parents, equipping them with knowledge and support for pedestrian, cycle, driver and passenger safety.

As children are less active outdoors, their knowledge and competence for dealing with increasingly heavy traffic is diminishing. On average 37 children under the age of 16 were killed or seriously injured every week on our roads in 2007, with the likelihood of injury increasing for boys. British statistics for road injury from a European comparative study revealed that British children spend more time playing near busy, main roads with high frequency traffic than their European counterparts. Research has also revealed that British children are less likely to use designated crossings, and more likely to be accompanied by another child rather than an adult. The study goes on to report that 20% of British children hang about on the street either on foot or on cycles.

The accumulative effect of these findings means children are ill-equipped with road safety awareness, and highlights the imperative nature of parents taking on the responsibility of teaching and guiding their children with road safety skills.

Among the recommendations are: educate your child by showing them road hazards; walk them to school until you have both gained confidence that the child can identify potential hazards and knows how to avoid or cope with them; make sure your child recognises where to cross, and where to look out for blind spots.

The plan of the current road safety campaign is to engage the target audience through interactive campaigning. Sales director of Bauer Media, Adrian Serle explained: “The activity demonstrates a unique concept of tying in fun and games with a government initiative to make it engaging for consumers.”

There has been some argument that the Green Cross Code should be re-introduced in more its original form. Since its disappearance, road accidents involving children have increased year on year. But the Government’s commitment to it’s new campaign strategy hopes to provide a clear and consistent message to children.
Closer’s appointment follows the DfT’s collaboration with MTV Networks UK and Ireland earlier this year. This ad campaign was designed to actively involve children by inviting them to choose their favourite ad from a shortlist of entrants. The winning ad would then be aired in a series of three TV ads focussing on road and bike safety.

The THINK! campaign aims to half the number of road deaths and serious injuries for children by the year 2010.

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Posted by admin on September 23rd, 2008 :: Filed under Marketing, Press
Tags :: Bauer Media
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