Define
Our task was twofold; to encourage more Londoners to cycle, and to make the roads safer for cyclists. We also needed to amplify a limited budget to push this message to the largest possible audience.
Design
Too many cyclists are killed or injured in accidents where the car driver simply ‘did not see’ the cyclist. With this in mind we developed a strategy that used science to demonstrate how easy it is for our brains to miss things when we’re not actively looking out for them.
Our awareness test film, ‘Do the Test’, illustrated how difficult it is to see cyclists when concentrating on other things on the road. This ran as a TV ad in the London region, supported by press ads in London only papers, with experiential activity in London train stations.
We then applied a social media strategy to seed the viral version of the film (hosted at www.dothetest.co.uk ) via video sharing, social media optimisation, community seeding with carefully selected cycling and motoring blogs, forums and Facebook groups. We also made one–to–one contact with group administrators encouraging them to spread the word.
We also secured a huge amount of free PR, including The Observer, The Telegraph, London Light and The London Paper. There were features on BBC London Evening News and ITV London Tonight.
Deliver
1 in 3 motorists and cyclists in London were aware of the campaign and between 40–50% of those aware felt they would change their behaviour as a result.
The film has been viewed online over 14m times. It’s the 2nd most viewed film of all time in its category on YouTube and at peak, there were over 75,000 different web pages linking to the film — from a conservative MP’s website, to a Japanese teenage girl’s blog. The campaign paid for itself more than three times over, not including the emotional cost of lives saved.
The campaign won a Gold Film Lion at Cannes, Best use of Viral Marketing at the IMA (Interactive Marketing and Advertising Awards) and Gold at the IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009.
