New UK Speeding Campaign

28 January 2021

Following an uplift in the proportion of vehicles speeding in the first national lockdown, THINK! is has launched a new campaign  – ‘Be the mate who won’t speed’. The activity asks high-risk male car drivers aged 17-24 to rethink their need to speed when on essential journeys, reducing pressure on vital services including the NHS.

In 2019, driving over the speed limit, driving too fast for the conditions or behaviours such as carelessness, recklessness and being in a hurry were factors in half of road deaths and serious accidents involving male drivers aged 17-24. Young men are also over-represented in industries where they still need to travel for work during lockdown, such as manufacturing, construction, essential retail and healthcare.

The campaign challenges three key beliefs based on insights into why our audience speed:

It’s okay to drive faster on familiar roads.

It’s easy to speed if you’re in a hurry.

It’s okay to speed when there are fewer other vehicles on the road.

All campaign assets also reflect current Government guidance , reinforcing the message that you should only travel for essential reasons.

As part of our Mates Matter strategy, the campaign aims to seed, normalise and champion positive driving behaviour, and intervene at key moments for our audience.

Paid campaign activity will be live on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter in the form of memes to champion the mates who won’t speed. Radio and digital audio will be used to intervene at key moments, to deliver the key messages to our young audience when they are most likely to be in their cars, with dynamic elements tailored to the location, time of day and weather conditions. THINK! will also be partnering with LADbible (a trusted social media platform for our audience) and social influencers to create video content supporting the key campaign messages, and amplification will come from brand partners such as insurethebox and the County FA and its network of grassroots football clubs.