SMART BELL

Short List
TitleSMART BELL
BrandAXA POLSKA
Product/ServiceSMART BIKE INSURANCE
Category A02. Applied Innovation
Entrant FCBBRIDGE2FUN Warsaw, POLAND
Idea Creation FCBBRIDGE2FUN Warsaw, POLAND
Production FCBBRIDGE2FUN Warsaw, POLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Mikolaj Stefanski FCB Warsaw Copywriter
Szymon Peplinski School of Form Chief Technology Officer
Kaja Dobrzanska FCB Warsaw Art Director
Agnieszka Klimczak-Pyryt FCB Warsaw Creative Director
Malgorzata Drozdowska FCB Warsaw Creative Director
Luis Silva Dias FCB Lisboa Chief Creative Officer
Robert Wawszczyk FCB Warsaw Agency Producer
Monika Sosnowska FCB Warsaw Account Director
Adrian Dutkowski Independent Designer

The Campaign

The cyclists sharing roads with cars face new dangers: bicycles are silent, which makes them hardly noticeable on the road. While new technology every year bring numerous innovations in cars’ safety systems, not to mention soundproof windows and better entertainment systems for drivers, cyclist can still rely only on a regular bicycle bell, which is not enough to attract driver’s attention in new environment – noisy cities and drivers distracted by their radios and MP3. We decided to use the technology that distracts drivers, to make cyclist finally audible and immediately noticeable. The same car audio systems that keeps the driver attention away from what is happening on the road was used to transmit the bicycle bell signal from approaching bicycle trough the car radio speakers. As almost every car is equipped in car radio, using FM transmission was instantly ensuring the appropriate scale and functionality of the solution.

Creative Execution

The smart bell is a new type of bicycle bell, that along with regular bell sound, uses radio frequencies to transmit the bell signal through the car radios within up to 5-meter radius. Smart bell works also as a rear light, that when triggered, turns into transmitter to disrupt selected frequencies, making the bell sound clearly audible in cars nearby. Smart bell uses RDS TA protocol to set radios nearby to receive the signal even if MP3, CD or AUX is on. Smart bell uses transmitters with a programmable steering module which can be set to work on different frequencies. Smart bell is connected to transmitter by a wire cable, working also as the antenna to guarantee enough radius with 50 nW e.r.p. power limit set by UE laws for personal FM transmitters. The smart bell was produced in a pilot series to be tested in the street of Warsaw.

The smart bell was launched at the biggest Polish bike show – Warsaw Bike Expo on April, 2017 and immediately received great reception from bikers, with request for information coming on average every 45 seconds already in the first 72 hours. Smart bell was handed out to Warsaw cyclists and since over 1000 cyclist already tested the smart bell we gathered feedback for further development which will focus on auto recognition of the frequencies to enable operation in any location. Availability of the technology used allow cost effective mass production. Given the smart bell’s life-saving potential and the fact that it can work with any car, without additional integration needed, AXA is planning to expand production of the smart bell to make it available for every cyclist in the Country, as an unique add-on to AXA insurance – to immediately protect bikers on the road from accidents that don’t need

Because it’s true lifesaving, people relevant and brand purposeful innovation. To promote its first bike insurance, AXA created a new way to immediately protect cyclists on the roads: a bicycle bell that uses the existing FM broadcasting technology with Radio Data System to transmit, along with its regular sound, the bell’s signal through car radios nearby. It’s the first bicycle bell that makes the most quiet and vulnerable road users finally audible on shared roads.