We decided to convince drivers to slow down by teaming up with someone they would surely listen to. Their own kids.
“Mr. Bear Driver” is a fun mobile game that teaches kids traffic safety. But there’s a catch… When played in a moving car, the game connects to GPS and Google Maps to track the real-life speed. Whenever the limit is exceeded by more than 10km/h, Mr. Bear (the in-game character) asks children to tell mommy or daddy to slow down. If drivers don’t slow down, the game ends in a crash. But If they comply, players get a bonus and the game goes on. This way, little passengers became safety copilots and learn in real life that speeding is a big no-no.
Campaign Success
After a teasing and content campaign on Facebook, the game was launched in the second part of summer holidays in Romania.
The game was launched together with Orange, and is also available on Orange’s newly bought smartphones and tablets.
The game was launched for free, nationwide, on App Store and Google Play and is still available on both platforms.
TV prime time news and online media picked up the message and created a national conversation about children’s safety.
Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results
- Over 9000 slowdowns recorded and counting
- 25% of Romanian population reached by the safety message (according to the Romanian Association for Audience Measurement)
- 400k earned media
- The game is now also implemented in Portugal by the name of “Boris o Condutor”, through the “Automovel Club de Portugal” (Automobile Club of Portugal) and on its way to other European countries, through national automobile clubs.
Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service
We convey our road safety message by talking to the kids playing on the backseat of a moving car, on smartphones and tablets.
The game is GPS and Google Maps enabled and every time legal speed is exceeded in real life, the in-game character activates kids by telling them to ask their parent drivers to slow down. If parents slow down, kids get points. If they don’t slow down, kids lose points and their game ends in an in-game car crash. In this way, we activate parents to slow-down by first activating kids to tell them to do so.
In order to convince drivers to slow down and drive safer, we targeted them not directly, but through their kids.
So we conveyed our road safety message right on kids’ favorite toys nowadays, where it could have a real impact: on smartphones and tablets.
The novelty of the idea ensured large coverage by national prime time TV News and online media, starting a nationwide conversation about children’s’ safety on the road.
The call-to-action occurs directly in the kids and their smartphones relationship. The in-game character speaks to kids every time legal speed is exceeded and tells them directly to ask their parent driver to slow down.