By Jessica Anstice
A Drouin university student’s road safety campaign has been plastered across digital billboards and other signage in Melbourne.
Laura Hughes is among four Swinburne University students to have their animated road safety campaign promoted across oOh!media’s roadside, retail, bus shelter and café signage as the coronavirus lockdown measures start to ease.
The ‘You miss a lot when you’re distracted’ campaign was devised by Ms Hughes, Caitlin Xavier, Stephanie Powell and Thomas Pritchard.
“We thought something a little bit lighter – you miss a lot when you’re distracted – so we leveraged that idea out to be applied to still symbolically dangerous, but less abrasive things,” Ms Hughes said.
It is the result of behavioural change program Re:act, which challenges university students to come up with ideas to raise road safety awareness among adults aged 18 to 25.
This demographic is almost twice as likely to be killed in traffic accidents than their parents, according to data from Australian Roads.
Their creative approach depicts vulnerable road users oblivious to the virtual presence of wild animals in the city, to highlight the topic of distraction.
“We used crocodiles, cheetahs, images that are associated with danger but still have visual impact, to symbolise other things,” she explained.
“Crossing a road on a red signal was symbolised by a coral snake, and the cheetah represented a car.”
oOh!media’s chief commercial and operations officer, Noel Cook, said creativity was a crucial aspect in any effective Out of Home campaign.
He explained that roadside billboards reach a large number of drivers on a daily basis.
“But you’ve got to be quick, creative and punchy with your messaging,” Mr Cook said.
“The students’ campaign does just that, and we’re really proud to support them and the Re:act team – it’s a great program about a really important issue.”
Andrew Hardwick, Re:act founder and CEO, said that despite ongoing challenges due to Covid, it was rewarding to see the campaign go live with oOh’s unwavering support.
“It’s been a very difficult time in Melbourne, and as restrictions ease and our roads get busier, it is timely to remind people to interact with the roads safely,” he said.
“We’ve been working with the students on this campaign for some time, and the students are really proud to see their creativity up in lights.”
The Re:act program is an initiative of creative behaviour change agency Hard Edge.
In 2020 it ran at Swinburne University in Melbourne, University of Technology Sydney and, for the first time, Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.
It also expanded internationally to the University of the Arts London.
The Melbourne campaign is now running after recent local campaign launches in Brisbane and Sydney over the past few months.
