Because Lives Are Precious
Road accidents and fatalities are a national concern. The number of lives lost in road accidents in India is among the highest in the world. According to the recent MoRTH (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways) data, not wearing seat belts resulted in 5,638 fatalities during 2016. In order to prevent this loss of precious lives, Maruti Suzuki India recently rolled out a nationwide social campaign #PehniKya? The company aims to create awareness and promote usage of seat belts among drivers and passengers through this campaign.
The TVC for ‘#PehniKya?’ shows a kid stopping his father from driving his car until he puts on his seat belt. The TVC is currently being played across major television channels in India.
The creative for the print ads is simple, fact based and striking, while evocative radio spots are designed to break myths around the usage of seat belts and highlight the importance of the seat belt as a safety device.
R. S. Kalsi, senior executive director of Maruti Suzuki, says, “Seat belt is one of the most effective safety equipment in a car. Studies by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), USA, show that if an occupant is not wearing a seat belt in a vehicle equipped with airbags, the airbags may actually cause more harm in the event of a crash. With the new safety regulations, more cars in India will come equipped with airbags. This makes the usage of seat belts even more critical. Our survey shows that seat belt usage in India is as low as 25 per cent. Through this campaign, we aim to encourage car occupants to wear seat belts.”
#PehniKya — conceived by Happy mcgarrybowen, a unit of Dentsu Aegis Network — focuses on driving this behavior change among car users in India. The 360-degree integrated campaign by Maruti Suzuki has been created for print, TV, radio and digital.
P. M. Praveen Das, chief creative officer and managing director of Happy mcgarrybowen, says, “Maruti Suzuki has been doing stellar work in the area of road safety. We were very excited to work on it latest campaign on the seat belt initiative. Drawing from research, we decided to keep the message simple and thought provoking, thus was born #PehniKya? Another key insight that was validated by research was that people would be far more impacted if the message came from a family member. The film thus captures the simple emotion of love of a son for his father.”
