Aim of the campaign:
In 2012 more than 130 young drivers aged between 17 and 24 were killed on UK highways – despite us having some of the safest roads in Europe. Goodyear wanted to raise awareness of these horrifying statistics and encourage behavioural change.
How we activated our ideas:
We created a forceful campaign to address the tragic and unnecessary loss of life by shining a spotlight on how youngsters are taught to drive.
Connect PR designed and launched the Goodyear Driving Academy, an online interactive programme that teaches students as young as 11 about the importance of the Highway Code.
We took the Driving Academy on tour, visiting schools nationwide in a series of events in conjunction with Young Driver, who specialise in practical driving tuition for children. Each visit allowed students to get behind the wheel for expert advice and driving practice, with the action captured by our in-house #ConnectOnCamera video news team for the Goodyear YouTube channel.
To further highlight the important issues, we staged a national awareness week to coincide with the publication of national road casualty figures.
Paralympic gold medallist Josie Pearson MBE (@josie_pearson) was recruited as the campaign’s spokesperson and she shared her own experience – paralysed aged just 17 in a road accident which killed her boyfriend. The involvement of such an empathetic and nationally admired ambassador enabled us to deliver hard-hitting messages to that tricky-to-reach teenage audience, ensuring they could identify with her situation and the potential consequences of poor driving education.
Coverage highlights:
The campaign generated widespread print, online and broadcast coverage for every Driving Academy event and especially around the awareness week. Key media targets to support the campaign included BBC Newsround, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and BBC Radio 5 Live.
Our work on this and other motoring campaigns was also endorsed by respected journalist and broadcaster Quentin Willson