‘Killer’ Re:act Road Safety student campaign launches in Sydney with oOh!media.

An inspired road safety campaign using the double meaning of ‘killer’, created by a University of Technology Sydney student as part of the Re:act behaviour change program, is appearing across digital billboards and displays in cafés, venues and retail centres from today, with oOh!media.

A landmark site on Parramatta Road in Leichardt is among the 331 digital assets the ‘Make your playlist killer. Not a killer on our roads’ message will appear on across Sydney.

The campaign will also appear on retail and educational sites across regional New South Wales, including a prominent site on Gordon Street in Port Macquarie.

Sydney is the second Australian city to launch a Re:act 2020 campaign. The Brisbane campaign was launched by Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey in mid-August, with the Melbourne campaign to follow in the coming weeks.

In an unprecedented event, Re:act media partner oOh!media is launching Re:act campaigns, which target the common road safety risk of distraction, and in particular vulnerable road users, across more than 850 sites through a partnership that exceeds $650 000 in value, in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

The Re:act road safety campaigns have been created by communication design students at University of Technology Sydney and Swinburne University in Melbourne and advertising students at Queensland University of Technology.

The prominent campaign executions are the result of a partnership between Re:act, a road safety initiative of creative behaviour change agency Hard Edge, and out of home advertising company oOh!media .

University of Technology Sydney student Ella Mander-Jones worked with Hard Edge to bring her ‘Killer Playlist’ campaign to life, with oOh!media working directly with Ella to refine the campaign for digital distribution.

“Ella did an amazing job in using popular culture references, that resonate with the young target audience, to communicate a serious road safety message about the risks of being distracted on our roads,” Hard Edge Managing Director Andrew Hardwick said.

“Young road users are over-represented in trauma statistics. Re:act’s vision is to give them a voice so they can influence their own age group. It’s so inspiring to see the insightful creativity Ella and her peers have come up with.

“oOh!media’s support for Re:act this year has been incredible, in spite of the challenges we have faced. They have been a fantastic partner and contributor to the program and continue to enthusiastically support its objective of making our roads safer for all users.”

Noel Cook, oOh!media’s Chief Commercial & Operations Officer, said the company was proud to be supporting such an important campaign, as well as the students themselves.

“Road safety initiatives like these save lives, and we are utilising a wide range of valuable assets to take these messages to the public and spread the word to young drivers,” he said. “The students have displayed outstanding creativity in coming up with their campaigns, and our team has enjoyed working with them to develop their ideas and see them realised across prominent digital billboards and screens.

“This initiative and our ongoing support for Re:act is part of the our broader approach to road safety, working in conjunction with the Outdoor Media Association to invest in research and make Australian roads safer.”

Andrew Hardwick says the vision for Re:act is to bring young people together with government and industry to give them a real-world experience but also activate their road safety campaigns in public to change the behaviour of road users. The oOh!media partnership is enabling this vision to become a reality.

Hard Edge continues to grow the Re:act program and this is another step towards the national model of Re:act, where one selected student campaign will run nationally across Australia.

Students behind the selected campaigns in each city have also developed an online and social media presence to support the outdoor campaigns. Ella Mander-Jones’ Sydney campaign will utilise the playitsafensw.com website and Instagram page.

Visit reactforchange.com to learn more about the Re:act program.

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For further information:

Andrew Hardwick
CEO – Hard Edge & Re:act
M +61 (0)417 334 399
ahardwick@hardedge.com.au

An initiative of Hard Edge, the annual Re:act program challenges university students to create a behaviour change campaign that raises awareness among 18-25 year old road users of a critical road safety issue where they are overrepresented. A panel of university, road safety and industry partners selects the most compelling road safety campaign in each state, which is then developed and launched on university campuses and oOh!media’s digital assets, including its landmark billboards. Now in its fifth year, Re:act ran in 2020 in Melbourne with Swinburne, UTS in Sydney and, for the first time, Brisbane, through QUT. The program also expanded internationally this year into London, at University of the Arts London. Further national and international expansion is planned for 2021.