THE BIKE LIGHT LANE

TitleTHE BIKE LIGHT LANE
BrandBRUSSELS MOBILITY
Product/ServiceBIKE FOR BRUSSELS
Category B03. Use of Ambient Media: Large Scale
Entrant MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
PR MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels, BELGIUM
Production BEYOND.IO Antwerp, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Jens Mortier mortierbrigade Creative Director
Joost Berends mortierbrigade Creative Director
Philippe De Ceuster mortierbrigade Creative Director
Jesse Van Gysel mortierbrigade Copywriter
Tom Meijer mortierbrigade Art Director
Zoé De Priester mortierbrigade Copywriter
Dorien Mathijssen mortierbrigade Strategic Planner
Margot Van Daele mortierbrigade Producer
Anne-Cécile Collignon mortierbrigade PR Manager
Jonas Van Bael mortierbrigade Social Media Manager
Jeroen De Bock mortierbrigade Digital Business Manager
Wim De Dobbeleer mortierbrigade Graphic Designer
Anner Tiete Beyond Producer
Kevin Verelst Beyond Producer

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

The entire experience revolved around the idea of triggering a direct response and behaviour change from the cyclists who passed through the Bike Light Lane. By catching individual cyclists’ attention, through the technique of tracking them, every cyclist had a personalised experienced.

Background

Situation: Bike for Brussels is an organisation that wants to change the perception of cycling in the European capital. Poor infrastructure is a part of the problem, but also the behaviour of cyclists themselves can be improved. 24% of cyclists in Brussels ride without a bike light, endangering not only themselves, but the entire traffic environment. Brief: Years of classic communication about this problem showed no improvements in cyclists’ behaviour, so we were asked to come up with a new way to reach cyclists in a meaningful way. Objectives: Raise awareness about the dangers of cycling without lights and hand out bike lights to the right target audience: cyclists who ride without them.

Describe the creative idea

We transformed one of the busiest bike lanes in Brussels into the Bike Light Lane: an interactive tunnel that detected cyclists without lights and made them experience an accident, without having to suffer the consequences. At the end of this experience, we handed out free bike lights, so they could immediately change their behaviour.

Describe the strategy

Target audience: All of Brussels’ cyclists who ride without lights. Research showed that this were mainly younger people, between 18-35. Approach: By coming up with the technology to detect cyclists without lights, we made sure we reached the right people at the right time. Knowing that our target audience were mainly young people, we caught their attention with an experience we know would appeal to them: a digital and interactive one. And because we didn’t just want to talk about the problem, but also contribute to the solution, we handed out free bike lights after we showed people what could happen if they ride without one.

Describe the execution

The main focus of this campaign was the experience on its own, triggering an immediate behaviour change in our target audience. That’s why we installed the Bike Light Lane at the busiest cycling point in Brussels. Print, social and SEA were all used to direct people towards the tunnel. The experience ran from 20/10/2017 – 26/10/2017, right after the switch to Winter Time. This is traditionally one of the most periods of the year for cyclists, as darkness suddenly sets one hour earlier.

List the results

The main objective of this campaign was a change in behaviour. And it worked. For the first time in years, we saw a decrease in the amount of cyclists without lights, going from 24% to 19%. On top of that, The Bike Light Lane gathered 10.956.928 impressions and a total of € 534.014 in earned media.