Australian Automobile Association (AAA): advocacy campaign

Challenge

Australia‘s road toll has been rising 10% every year, with 100 people being hospitalised each day.

But no one can tell you why, because important data is not released by Governments.

Politicians have been long accused by the public of spending taxpayer money on roads to win votes instead of meeting community and safety needs. On top of that, research shows road safety isn't a top priority for many Australians, and they're unaware the government did not relase the data.

The challenge was to design a creative campaign that would capture attention on an issue that is not salient to build public and political support for ‘data-driven road funding’ in Australia.

Solution

We built a campaign, called ‘Data Saves Lives’, that urged the Australian Government to share road safety data.

We tested multiple creative concepts to ensure the messaging on a complex reform was clear. Understanding the interplay between issues, policy, and politics enabled the AAA to reframe this ask around higher-order priorities.

We then wrote to every Australian politician asking them to support sharing the data. The campaign website displayed which politicians were for, or against, making the data public.

Working as the AAA’s ‘Campaign Director’, I directly contributed across:

• Research and insights development: Project-managed external research agency to conduct pre-campaign research and focus group testing of concepts, ensuring the messaging and visuals were effective and resonated with audiences.

• Creative development: Collaborated with external creative agency to develop the campaign’s core message and visual device, integrating it across earned, owned, and paid channels.

• Collateral build: Directed the appointed digital agency in the creation of a campaign website optimised to achieve the campaign’s objective—encouraging Australians to connect and advocate for change with their local politicians.

• Stakeholder collaboration: Facilitated close liaison between the AAA, clubs, and a coalition of third-party partners for message amplification.

• Paid and earned media: Supported the campaign’s paid and earned media strategy with external media agency. Oversaw the production and optimisation of assets for integrated paid media across social, BVOD, video, and programmatic display.

Results

The campaign successfully influenced the Federal Government to adopt the AAA’s policy.

The concept with the headline ‘Slow Politicians Ahead’ proved through focus-group testing to be the best way to reframe the campaign as an integrity issue, introduce a solution, and influence user action.

The campaign generated over 10,000 public signatures and secured support from 20 national organisations representing motorists, motorcyclists, truckers, pedestrians, doctors, insurers, road engineers and safety advocates.

Creative developed by agency General Strategic

Creative developed by agency General Strategic

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