The second will be the first
Thanks to advertising by Faktor Plus, Bern's traffic safety education isn't boring at all—and that's why it's so successful
Thanks to advertising by Faktor Plus, traffic education in Bern is not at all boring and is therefore very successfulBy Luca Aloisi Bern's roads are, by its own admission, among the safest in Europe. The capital owes its exemplary function to the Road Safety Action Plan (MVS). This project is now in its ninth year with a prevention TV spot produced by the Bernese advertising agency Faktor Plus.
Patrice Mosimann, owner and conceptual designer of the Bern-based agency Faktor Plus, has been providing promotional support for the MVS project for eight years. During this time, the accident rate in Bern has been reduced by an impressive 20 percent with structural and communicative measures.
In contrast to the drab, bold implementations of the usual prevention campaigns, the Bernese advertisers have set out to have a positive effect on the behavior of the most frequent accident causers with more inspired appearances at events and in classic advertising. According to the motto: the more modest the means for prevention, the more surprising and sustainable the communication activities have to be, especially in event marketing.
Comic style spot with split monitor
On behalf of the city police of Bern, Faktor Plus has now realized a low-budget TV spot that should reach the young target group quickly and easily with a likeable, humorous comic implementation. Exciting, funny and yet instructive, the strip incorporates several topics such as right of way, speed, aggression or children in traffic and shows in parallel on both halves of the monitor how an exemplary and a bad driver manage the risks in traffic. It is just as clear that the driver with the bad behavior is the first to cross the finish line as the fact that the sympathies fly to the runner-up as the actual winner.
In 1993, Bern was the first city in Switzerland to initiate an MVS. The cooperation with the federal government, the canton and various municipal directorates has since proven its worth in other Swiss cities as well, because their cooperation provides the advisory services with a package of measures. It includes numerous elements - from traffic education in the form of safety days at schools, at trade fairs such as Bea or on the Bundesplatz with scrap cars, to the use of classic advertising in accident prevention campaigns.
Does accident prevention work better with horror images?
The approach seems necessary because conventional measures such as speed limits or the obligation to wear seat belts and helmets have been practically exhausted. But when excerpts of "Vision Zero," a basis for a new traffic policy drawn up by the Federal Roads Office (Astra), became public, the proposals came under heavy fire from the tabloid media. Astra's plans are based on the corporate strategy of U.S. chemical multinational DuPont, according to which every accident is preventable. But the 16 to 20 million Swiss francs that flow into road safety campaigns every year on a voluntary basis have apparently also reached their maximum effect.
Hans Koller, executive secretary of the Swiss Road Safety Council, knows all about the problem. The association, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2002, is one of the main players in prevention. In addition, there are countless other agencies working to improve road safety. These include the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BfU), insurance companies and police forces, as well as the TCS and VCS associations.
It is true that the constant stream of warning posters and events succeeds in raising awareness among road users. But Koller complains that the many campaigns and activities repeatedly present their senders with coordination problems. The negative consequences, such as the dispersal of financial resources, unused synergies or overlapping times, were fortunately not felt by those targeted, says Koller. But specialists also criticized the effectiveness of campaigns that appeal to common sense. Among the young - the age group with the most frequent and most serious accidents - deterrent and threatening messages would have much more effect.
Koller understands the objection, but counters that his association considers a philosophy of raising awareness to be more effective. Moreover, it has been found that suppression is the most common reaction to campaigns with horror images. With the attitude that "this can never happen to me," the message usually goes unheeded.
Patrice Mosimann, owner and conceptual designer of the Bern-based agency Faktor Plus, has been providing promotional support for the MVS project for eight years. During this time, the accident rate in Bern has been reduced by an impressive 20 percent with structural and communicative measures.
In contrast to the drab, bold implementations of the usual prevention campaigns, the Bernese advertisers have set out to have a positive effect on the behavior of the most frequent accident causers with more inspired appearances at events and in classic advertising. According to the motto: the more modest the means for prevention, the more surprising and sustainable the communication activities have to be, especially in event marketing.
Comic style spot with split monitor
On behalf of the city police of Bern, Faktor Plus has now realized a low-budget TV spot that should reach the young target group quickly and easily with a likeable, humorous comic implementation. Exciting, funny and yet instructive, the strip incorporates several topics such as right of way, speed, aggression or children in traffic and shows in parallel on both halves of the monitor how an exemplary and a bad driver manage the risks in traffic. It is just as clear that the driver with the bad behavior is the first to cross the finish line as the fact that the sympathies fly to the runner-up as the actual winner.
In 1993, Bern was the first city in Switzerland to initiate an MVS. The cooperation with the federal government, the canton and various municipal directorates has since proven its worth in other Swiss cities as well, because their cooperation provides the advisory services with a package of measures. It includes numerous elements - from traffic education in the form of safety days at schools, at trade fairs such as Bea or on the Bundesplatz with scrap cars, to the use of classic advertising in accident prevention campaigns.
Does accident prevention work better with horror images?
The approach seems necessary because conventional measures such as speed limits or the obligation to wear seat belts and helmets have been practically exhausted. But when excerpts of "Vision Zero," a basis for a new traffic policy drawn up by the Federal Roads Office (Astra), became public, the proposals came under heavy fire from the tabloid media. Astra's plans are based on the corporate strategy of U.S. chemical multinational DuPont, according to which every accident is preventable. But the 16 to 20 million Swiss francs that flow into road safety campaigns every year on a voluntary basis have apparently also reached their maximum effect.
Hans Koller, executive secretary of the Swiss Road Safety Council, knows all about the problem. The association, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2002, is one of the main players in prevention. In addition, there are countless other agencies working to improve road safety. These include the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BfU), insurance companies and police forces, as well as the TCS and VCS associations.
It is true that the constant stream of warning posters and events succeeds in raising awareness among road users. But Koller complains that the many campaigns and activities repeatedly present their senders with coordination problems. The negative consequences, such as the dispersal of financial resources, unused synergies or overlapping times, were fortunately not felt by those targeted, says Koller. But specialists also criticized the effectiveness of campaigns that appeal to common sense. Among the young - the age group with the most frequent and most serious accidents - deterrent and threatening messages would have much more effect.
Koller understands the objection, but counters that his association considers a philosophy of raising awareness to be more effective. Moreover, it has been found that suppression is the most common reaction to campaigns with horror images. With the attitude that "this can never happen to me," the message usually goes unheeded.
