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:

1.  The town of Speed

2.  Gabby

3.  Like us on Facebook

4.  The Appeal TV ad

5.  The Slow Race

6.  The Appeal

Agency: Naked Communications, Melbourne

Director: Andrew Lancaster (Photoplay Films)