Motor Industry can make a valuable contribution to road safety promotion. An interesting meeting in the Road Safety Association some months ago has piqued my interest in road safety promotion in Ireland. The RSA has been in the news in the last few weeks as the structure of the organization is coming under scrutiny. I’m agnostic on that subject myself and coming to this post purely from a marcomms/ branding point of view. I know that the RSA has had some cooperation with SIMI in the past, but this is not something I was aware of in my time as Comms specialist in Kia and I am coming to this topic in hopes of reigniting this support. As we are being made constantly aware road safety belongs to everyone, but I think motor brands be they manufacturers, retailers, motor factors or digital car platforms are in a unique position to amplify road safety messaging as they speak directly to car owners ,young and old . By doing this they can at little or no cost to themselves increase the reach and frequency of this messaging and make their own contribution to road safety in Ireland. This messaging should also be “always on “rather than something done for a short time in a box ticking exercise. Starting with corporate websites I see this working in practice by the motor industry adapting a tag line in use by the RSA (with their agreement) or an alternative. My suggestion for an alternative is the expression – “Mind yourself” which would could appear on a site carousel or tile as “Driving today ? – Mind yourself “or expanded to "Driving today ? Mind yourself, mind your friends ,mind your family “ . Either way the tiles can be hyperlinked to the RSA website boosting their traffic at no cost to RSA or indeed the taxpayer. This messaging or similar also has potential for social media channels. I imagine a scenario where on the Friday of Bank Holiday weekends or major events manufacturers and dealers would post “Mind yourself “messages on their social media. Many retailers I know have very talented salespersons posting video material and wouldn’t it be nice if they signed off with a “Mind yourself “message ,as could also the many brand ambassadors associated with the industry. I can even see this messaging extended to the content creators who are reviewing new cars daily whose words could bear weight with the viewers who value their opinions. I’ve floated the idea now and may come back to it in the coming weeks directly with some of you who read this ,in the full knowledge that devil is as always in the detail . In the meantime if you are driving this weekend, mind yourself !
Mark Noble
2mo
Easy execution I think Aidan and a solid idea.
Owner at Auto Consultancy
2moHi Emma, that's very interesting. The work to put a hyperlinked tag on dealers websites is minimal. The result would link a large number of motor traffic t to rsa.ie I'll give you a call. Tom