Chevrolet’s Drive with Care hits hard at the road safety issue:Jack Uppal

Road safety during the monsoon season becomes a great cause for worry, especially the wet, slippery roads. To help make road safety a top-of-mind concern for everyone, especially during this time of the year, auto major Chevrolet has rolled out its ‘Drive with Care’ campaign.

As part of this campaign, Chevrolet has also released a video showing innovative road signs painted with hydrophobic paint, that can only be seen when wet, at work. This video can be seen on YouTube, Facebook and other media channels. A dedicated campaign page on the Chevrolet website has been created to educate the public with insights on traffic accidents and tips on what pedestrians and drivers can do to be safer on the road during rainy days.

AdGully spoke with Jack Uppal, VP - Marketing and Customer Care, General Motors, to know more about this initiative.

The insight behind the campaign.
At Chevrolet, one of our key values is to keep the customers at the centre of everything, and the monsoon season is just one of the several opportunities to connect, engage and educate them on the importance of being careful on road. As a global brand that considers safety as one its highest priorities, Chevrolet takes a comprehensive and innovative approach to road safety, aimed at keeping everyone on the road – drivers, passengers and pedestrians ‘Safe’. With the ‘Drive with Care’ film, which hits hard at the road safety issue, we aim to create awareness amongst the people and bring about the change in the overall approach towards road safety and to care for others at the same time. The campaign gives on-road insights and urges you to think and ponder over your approach towards road safety.

Is it a campaign specifically designed for Indian market or have you carried out similar initiatives in your other markets as well?
This initiative is a first in India. It has never been executed in any other market, so we are proud to provide a way to make roads safer in India and more importantly, raise awareness through our digital and social campaigns, of ways Chevrolet wants to help keep India’s roads safe. Drive with Care is a pilot for 2016, however, Chevrolet’s commitment to road safety does not end here. The goal is to continue with the Drive With Care journey and expand further next year.

How did you go about executing the initiative?
As the first leg of the campaign, we commissioned a study on road accidents in Mumbai, conducted by Nielsen and Value Notes, to learn more about road accidents during the monsoon season. The studies helped create awareness by identifying major accident prone zones/ areas in the city during monsoon, reason behind these accidents and other statistics on the number of accidents, particularly during monsoon months.

To amplify the awareness, the ‘Drive with Care’ video showing the innovative road signs using hydrophobic paint (that can only be seen when wet) are being telecast on YouTube, Facebook and other media channels. A dedicated campaign page on the Chevrolet website has been created to educate the public with insights on traffic accidents and tips on what pedestrians and drivers can do to be safer on the road during rainy days.

As on-ground activation, ‘Drive with Care’ messages will also be distributed in select localities for customers to put up safety messages that appear whenever it rains, alerting drivers and pedestrians to be more cautious while driving on wet roads.

What are the key cities that you have targeted for the campaign?
Mumbai witnessed 23,468 number road accidents during 2015, which is the highest when compared to other cities in India. As a pilot project, we conducted the study in association with Nielsen and ValueNotes in Mumbai because of the rise of the numbers every year. We are closely studying the dynamics and possibilities of replicating the study in other cities and will take a call basis various on-ground scenarios and significance in the region.

However, the Drive with Care campaign video will be telecast on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other TV and media channels, apart from a dedicated campaign page on the Chevrolet website to reach out to motorists and pedestrians across the country.

Did you tie up with any paint manufacturing company to make the hydrophobic paints or was it developed in-house?
We worked with a vendor who has manufactured a new technology paint that is invisible when dry, but visible when it rains, which can be used to highlight dangerous intersections and crossings on the roads to make our roads safer.

What is the duration of the campaign?
It is a two-month long campaign that started with the survey conducted by Nielsen and ValueNotes over a period of one month (the findings were released on July 7, 2016). The second leg of the campaign, that is, the ‘Drive with Care’ video and online amplification went live on July 18. This will be followed by the on-ground activation at a few residential complexes. The campaign also includes celebration of Safety Day at Chevrolet corporate office and sites to create awareness on road safety as well as safety at the work place.

Have you tied up with any agency for the campaign?
We worked with our agency Commonwealth//McCann, MRM and Fleishman Hillard to conceptualise and execute this campaign. Our NGO partner is Muskaan, who helped us connecting with real live stories affected with such road accidents.

How is Chevrolet bringing out brand association with this campaign?
Chevrolet’s objective is to raise awareness among motorists to maintain their cars during the rains. As a global brand, Chevrolet has been a leader in safety innovations that are used everyday. We understand the importance of keeping your loved one safe on roads, which is why we are continuously innovating and transforming our vehicle safety features. Doing what is best for our customers safety will remain our focus for all future products as well.

With this campaign specifically, we have taken a comprehensive and innovative approach to road safety aiming to keep everyone on the road – drivers, passengers and pedestrians, ‘Safe’. The ‘Drive with Care’ initiative will, therefore, play a key role in building the corporate brand and deepening our relationship with our customers.