• Northern Ireland needs to reduce the death rate and get passengers and drivers to buckle up
• Hard-hitting TV ads showcase the impact on family and friends of failing to take action
• Seatbelt wearing rates are now higher than in the rest of the UK

The challenge

Northern Ireland has historically suffered from a terrible affliction: A massive death rate on the roads. The number of deaths were 10 per 100,000 population compared to six per 100,000 for Great Britain.
One key factor was the fact that fewer people wore seatbelts, particularly in the back of the car, than in other parts of the UK.

The challenge was to increase seat belt compliance and thereby reduce the number of injuries and fatalities when cars did collide.

The TV solution

Research among the core target audience of adults aged 16-24 revealed that the factors that would make them put on a seatbelt would be the prospect of killing a family member or friend or the prospect of being seriously disabled for life.

They expected the advertising message to include realistic portrayals, powerful dramatisation, a high degree of realism as well as a storyline of engaging characters.

TV would have to be at the heart of a message that was summed up by a direct message: “No Seatbelt – No Excuse”.

The activity launched in 2001 with Damage, an ad that used graphic images to dramatise the selfishness of not wearing a seatbelt and the consequences for friends and fellow passengers.

This was followed up in 2006 with Get It On, an ad that showed young guys and girls buckling up together, and Selfish, an ad reminding parents of their responsibility to ensure that children are safe in the back of the car and featuring the funeral of a little girl.

Damage ran after the watershed from 2001 until 2006, upweighted for end of break and first in break positioning with the schedule targeted towards movies, dramas and football. This helped drive awareness of the campaign into the high nineties, well ahead of awareness norms of 49%.

Get It On was aimed at the younger end of the target audience while Selfish was aimed at parents. After an initial launch in October 2006 via a roadblock on Ulster and C4 – the only stations with a Northern Ireland macro – the two messages were also run separately in 2007.

Get It On ran in July 2007 to reach the festival going audience while Selfish aired during September 2007 to reach parents during the back to school period.

TV took 90% of the budget but the activity also included radio, cinema, roadside and bus back outdoor as well as press.

Results

The power of these messages has led to a dramatic change in behaviour. The target audience admits that the ad “influenced me a lot”, a statement agreed with by 63%, around four times the Millward Brown norm for TV ads.

Attitudes have changed with the number of people strongly disagreeing with the statement “To wear a seatbelt or not is a personal choice because it does not affect other people” up by 54%.

Observational studies show that the number of drivers wearing seatbelts is now at 96% – up from 87% – and now ahead of the GB average of 94%. Backseat wearing rates are now at 91%, up from 65%.

The number of deaths and serious injuries where drivers and passengers had not been wearing a seatbelt fell by 29% while road deaths fell to the lowest level ever recorded in 2007.

The number of road deaths per 100,000 is now six in Northern Ireland, the same as in the rest of the UK.
Consumers attribute the Department of the Environment adverts as the most influential factor in changing their behaviour.

In addition to the human tragedy that has been averted, the campaign has also helped save money, payback on the £4.2m campaign is calculated at £66.3m for 2001-2007, an ROI of £15.75 for every pound invested in media.