Who’s Looking?
Young people speaking to young people: Road safety education campaigns, taking a fresh approach to encouraging the young people of Santiago to avoid being distracted around the roads, launched across Santiago Region Metropolitana today.
Created as part of the Re:act road safety behaviour change program, the campaigns were devised by young santiaguinos road users to encourage their peers to not be distracted by headphones when engaging with the road system.
Re:act ran for the first time in Chile in 2023.
Re:act CEO and founder Andrew Hardwick said:“The work of design and advertising students at Universidad Andres Bello (UNAB) was hugely impressive.
“Their campaign ideas showed the future of road safety communication in Chile is in good hands, with the standard being comparable in many cases to what you would expect from an agency.
“The selected campaign, Ultimo Hit, demonstrated an insightful approach by focusing on a medium that appeals to young people – music – and making clever use of the word ‘hit’ to educate other young santiaguinos about avoiding distractions. Students Alessandra Avendaño, Sharon Bugueño, Javiera Guevara and Nicolas McCuaig should be proud of their campaign.”
The Re:act program is in its eighth year, with more than 1,000 students in South and North America, the United Kingdom and Australia having completed the curriculum-based program. Re:act has raised awareness and changed behaviours not just among participating students but their own networks, other young people, and the broader community.
Globally, 37 million people have seen students’ campaigns on the out of home assets of Re:act’s media partners in five countries.
Carol Frost, Director of the Advertising School at UNAB, said of Re:act: “Very positive and great learning for teachers, students, and the school team. It will always be very virtuous to have the experience of working with other partners in the industry, under the guidance and experience of the Re:act team.”
“I believe that it has been an important space for reflection for the students, who managed to understand the challenge proposed for in their words and with their ways of communicating, designing a campaign that could get closer to the audience, which are precisely the young people who move around the city and who, like them, can get distracted and put their safety at risk. I believe that the students have learned much more about road safety and will be leaders in their environments after this experience.”
“In 2022, 278 young people died on the streets of Chile for absolutely preventable causes, a reality that we must and are determined to change with regulatory, inspection, educational and dissemination work”, indicates the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, “that is why from the MTT, through Conaset, we accepted the invitation made to us by the Re:Act team, with Australian experience, with the enthusiasm of the teachers and students of the U. Andrés Bello, and the commitment of companies that are part of the National Pact for Road Safety to find the most effective way to address young people, and call attention to changes in behavior that allow them and us to move more attentive to the environment and traffic conditions.”
Cristobal Carrere, Marketing Director at JCDecaux Chile said:“Safety is a fundamental part of JCDecaux, it is part of who we are, and being able to support such an important cause to protect not only young people, but also all of us who mobilize on the streets and avenues of the city motivates us. Being able to contribute to the community is something that makes us proud as a company and we are always available and willing to support these types of initiatives in any way we can.
Seeing the creative process of these students is incredible, they take very deep insights from young people like them and look for ways to generate the greatest possible impact on their peers. They focused on specific themes and put a lot of creativity into how to approach them, in addition to thinking about downloading the different campaigns for different media with very different characteristics, thinking about generating multiple contact points.”
“The key to the Re:act program’s success is collaboration,” Andrew Hardwick added. “Without the partnership between Universities, companies, government and JCDecaux, Re:act’s media partner in South America, our vision of the broader public seeing and being influenced by the thoughts and ideas of young minds would just not be possible.
“The support for Re:act in Chile has been incredible. The team at CONASET is largely responsible for Re:act being run in Chile this year, all program partners have been welcoming and engaged strongly in the program, and JCDecaux has shown its commitment to road safety with fantastic support.
“We hope 2023 is the first of many Re:act programs in Chile and that over time we can contribute to reducing the impact of road trauma through young people educating and raising the awareness of their peers.”
The campaign will run across Santiago during the month of August on JCDecaux digital assets. For further information and Hi Resolutions Images, please contact andrew@reactforchange.com.
Visit reactforchange.com to learn more about the Re:act program.
“Young people have gradually come to understand that driving is a very complex activity and that we only do it as amateurs, and it is the new generation who is more alert about the importance of adopting safe behaviors behind the wheel.
“The Automóvil Club de Chile assumed the unrestricted commitment to reduce the rate of fatalities and injuries as a result of road accidents in the country more than three decades ago, as well as supporting all those initiatives that aim to save more lives in traffic. It is a privilege for us to have supported this Re:act program in Chile, since it is an unprecedented project in our country and it motivates us to continue promoting more spaces like these over time. In addition, this instance allowed us to learn more about the valuable work that this organization is doing world wide today.
“In Chile, it is unusual for participatory spaces to be encouraged that allow young people to become actively involved in major problems that exist today in terms of road safety. Behind the Re:act project, we have verified that it is possible to encourage the new generations to motivate themselves and contribute positively to forming a new road culture in the country, since there is a lot of talent to be rescued, and it can perfectly become the engine of change that awareness campaigns need today. Beyond the ingenuity, creativity and dedication shown by the students, it is gratifying to see how they experience the world of road safety and how they manage to transmit it to their peers.”
Alberto Escobar Poblete
Automóvil Club de Chile
“We hope as a brand that this first campaign marks a Milestone among young people about the importance of Road Safety and awareness for their self-care.”
Macarena Toledo
HONDA Chile
“Collaborating in road safety is a mission that brings us all together, and this initiative does important work by bringing together different organizations in this line. More importantly, it does so through the creativity of young people, who know better than anyone the reality that lives on the streets, and who will have the power to make changes in the short term. From Buses Vule we have promoted a collaborative agenda in search of road coexistence for years, and we are proud to be present in this instance.”
Nelson Carvajal
Buses Vule
