20,000 Facebook clicks sees a change in Speed
UPDATED: The Rename Speed campaign officially recorded its 20,000th supporter just before 10pm last night.
In a bid to reduce death and serious injury on regional and rural roads the Mallee township of Speed is leading an Australian-first road safety campaign changing their name to SpeedKills.
The unveiling of the new town signs will take place at a ceremony in Speed at a date soon to be determined. Flooding has affected areas in around Speed, and until the local people are ready, the ceremony will be put on hold.
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is backing the campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of speed and engage Victorians from every corner of the state in an initiative that is running primarily online.
The “Rename Speed” campaign, via Naked Communications, Melbourne, centres around a Facebook page – backed by Twitter – featuring videos and photos of locals from the tiny town urging all Victorians to slow down.
The Rename Speed campaign has now set its sights on attracting the attention of the nation’s most popular personalities to their name changing ceremony.
A callout to the campaign’s Facebook page fans will be made to determine their preference on a celebrity or official to unveil the town’s new sign. Suggested people to invite include Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott, Premier Ted Baillieu, Hamish and Andy, or Shane Warne.
Visitors to the Facebook page are encouraged to hit the “likes this” symbol because the town would only change their name if 10,000 likes were achieved. When the 20,000th “like” is recorded, and Mr Down changes his name, the TAC will donate a further $10,000 to the Speed Lions Club in addition to the initial $10,000 promised by the TAC at the beginning of the campaign.
TAC Acting CEO, Phil Reed, said the rapid response to the campaign was a credit to the people of Speed, and proved that people everywhere are committed to reducing road trauma.
“We are absolutely amazed and delighted that so many people have thrown their support behind this tiny town and their road safety message,” Mr Reed said.
“What this proves is that while one town is leading this campaign, there are people all across the country also wanting to slow down and drive safely.”
Adam Ferrier, founding partner and consumer psychologist at Naked Communications said: “People are used to government bodies telling them to slow down on the roads, and it’s been an effective message.
“However, we wanted to find a way to have this message endorsed by peoples’ friends and families – social media being the obvious environment.”
“This campaign represents a unified message from the state government, the townsfolk of Speed, and hopefully the people of Victoria.”
The TAC are now planning on going global by attempting to make contact with people who live in overseas towns called Speed to gauge their interest in also changing their name to SpeedKills for the month of February to further enhance the message.
TAC Acting CEO, Phil Reed, said there are five towns called Speed in the USA, and help is needed to contact residents of each community.
“Road crashes the biggest killer of youth aged 10-24 in the world and this is an opportunity for us to extend this awareness-raising campaign to another part of the globe that can help send the message,” Reed said.
The World Health Organisation states that 260,000 youths die and a further 10 million are injured every year on the roads.
“If the tiny town of Speed in Victoria can gain such an enormous following in less than a week, imagine how much of a difference we could make if this is spread overseas.”
VIDEOS:
2. Gabby
6. The Appeal
Agency: Naked Communications, Melbourne
Executive Ideas Director: Paul Swann
Creative: Anna O’Donoughue
Creative Director: Sesh Moodley
Project Direction: Renata Gordon
Communications Strategy: Edd Southerden
Planning Partner: Adam Ferrier
Director: Andrew Lancaster (Photoplay Films)
21 Comments
Fucking brilliant
i like it. The videos from the townsfolk – nicely done. interesting campaign although seen idea before.
Wow, 10,000 clicks on the first day is pretty amazing (‘likes’ better I suppose)… well done!! Most brand internet campaigns take weeks to build like that, though I guess it’s a pretty authentic community campaign as opposed to something a little tarnished so that’s gotta help.
It’ll sure be affective to those 10’s of people who drive through the town.
Good on you! I’ve driven through your town a number of times & agree that drivers don’t slow down. I’m all for it. All the best.
Love it. Good work Speed, Naked and The TAC.
Gold
I think this is a fantastic piece of social media and attention-grabbing cause marketing with a lot of offline PR outreach potential for what I’d guess was quite a reasonable budget. Good work Naked Communications.
I wonder what they’ll come up with for 30,000 Facebook ‘likes’?
Kay Hammond, CEO, TAMBA
Proof that the big idea is still king. Too many social media campaigns feel forced and lacking of a central idea. This is a great idea that’s solves a real problem.
Well done to all involved!
10,000 likes in the first day. Plain awesome.
A perfect example of the power of a simple idea. Great work.
Love the content. Slow race, awesome. Awards will probably come but the biggest win out of this will be saving lives.
Slow race. Short walk.
didn’t the NZ version of this organization name a race horse a few years back along the same lines ?
Sounds like they’ll need a “speed boat” to get around in the mean time….
@12.22
It’s good to see that clients are reading this blog.
Blah. It means nothing unless you drive through the town and see th sign speed kills. Isn’t that just like any old TAC billboard.
Great effective idea
Who’s Mr Down?
Watch the videos. That’s all I’m saying.
Anyone have an update on when the renaming ceremony is going to happen?