Tire and Rubber Association of Canada
Helping drivers gain some serious TRACtion.
How do you reach millions of young drivers to spread awareness of safety on the road?
Canada. It’s a country renowned around the world for warm, welcoming people, and long, freezing winters. We teamed up with the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada (TRAC) to protect the former against the latter, by promoting safer driving techniques to help Canadian citizens better navigate wintry conditions on the road.
Working together with contributing team-members from all over the world, we got in the digital driver’s seat to help TRAC convey their message of safer, more efficient driving. It’s delivered through a national educational initiative called ‘Be Tire Smart’.
Our role included the creation of an end-to-end strategy, tactical execution of creative and messaging—including detailed analytics and insights—and the overall measurement and reporting of the campaign performance.
The problem
TRAC sought to overcome both a modest budget and an audience spread vast across both geography and demographics. The campaign had to reach people from all over the country and at all age groups, with a particular focus on younger drivers and people unfamiliar with Canadian conditions.
The approach
In collaboration with TRAC and leading Canadian video production agency Studio Amarelo, we ran a promotional multi-channel campaign. By using digital channels, including paid search and social marketing, we maximized exposure through targeted, contextually-relevant content and messaging.
The end-game
Cost-effective cut through and a digital campaign to deliver serious return on TRAC’s budget. More specifically, drive traffic to the Be Tire Smart educational initiative to spread the word of safer driving techniques and the importance of managing winter conditions on the road.
THE CAMPAIGN CONCEPT
Although the weather itself may be frosty, winter safety isn’t necessarily the ‘coolest' campaign proposition for a young and highly discerning target audience.
For the message to resonate, the campaign had to have a strong benefit-focus and a conversational tone. If it felt like a lecture, the response from the young driving public could be icy.
The campaign concept—‘For The Winter’—used a subtle play on the popular slang phrase ‘for the win’. For those of us not familiar with internet shorthand, it’s a term of enthusiasm, used to show support for something generally excellent or beneficial.
"As a campaign concept, 'for the winter' intentionally works in conjunction with the name of the national education initiative: Be Tire Smart.
The two lines intentionally sit together. ‘Be Tire Smart’, and you prime yourself for a range of benefits. You avoid costly crashes; you travel efficiently; and you ensure safer roads. In other words, you prime yourself ‘for the win’. Together, the message becomes: be tire smart for the winter. Or, literally, take an intelligent approach to road safety during the colder months.
The ultimate effect of this two-tier line is heightened awareness for Be Tire Smart as a national education initiative, and a clear, compelling tagline.”
Elliott Grigg, Senior Copywriter
CHOOSING CHANNELS
To reach an audience spread far across the country, we developed a campaign strategy to connect TRAC with young Canadians online, on their terms.
We generated substantial returns on a modest campaign budget and worked to help secure additional funding. We also employed the critical Google Grants advertising budget available to non-profit organizations. This additional funding helped broaden our reach for the duration of the campaign.
The ‘For The Winter’ campaign consisted of:
- Interactive Facebook canvas ads.
- Dedicated campaign landing pages on the Be Tire Smart website and blog.
- Google Ads campaigns.
- A YouTube video content series and advertising.
- Instagram promotion.
“The August team created excellent digital and social campaigns that suited our needs and budget, and clearly delivered on our goals. And beyond.”
Glenn Maidment, President, Tire and Rubber Association of Canada
TRACKING THE ROAD TO SUCCESS
Analytics and insights informed every step of the campaign. From keyword research to the optimization of digital spend, ongoing measurement allowed us to remain nimble and adapt to the behavior of our target audience.
While general awareness was a primary goal, it was important to inspire a deeper level of engagement with content and key messages. We wanted to trigger genuine action in addition to improving general awareness. And, track the outcome of each digital interaction to better understand our audiences. Key performance metrics included:
- Content and video views and engagement.
- Unique website visits and session durations.
- Safe driving ‘tips & hints’ PDF downloads.
- Repeat visitation and sharing.
DIGGING FOR MORE DETAIL
To ensure the campaign was as efficient and effective as possible, we also installed user session tracking and a detailed analytics configuration to allow us to react and pivot in real-time during the campaign.
During the live campaign, various updates were made to the layout of landing pages across mobile and desktop, to further improve the user experience and increase conversion. This played a significant role in reaching the 90,000+ actions achieved by the campaign.
The tools and expertise we had at our disposal allowed us to remain open to adjustments in approach and tactics, in real time.
"Nimble, current and capable of delivering both strategic guidance and detail-led execution, August is a digital agency that hasn’t forgotten about the human touch."
Garrick Ng, Studio Amarelo
"Detailed analytics configuration and daily monitoring allowed deep, evidence-based decision-making around keyword targeting and advertising spends, to ensure we were using the best channels for maximum effect.
For example, Facebook advertising was gaining considerable engagement during the final weeks of the campaign. By closely monitoring results, we were able to allocate some of the remaining Google Ads budget to Facebook—where user actions continued to climb.”
Rowan Barnes, Head of Analytics and Insights
RESULTS
- 4.1mUsers reached through campaign.
Millions of people saw the campaign message across the different channels used.
- 90kUser actions eg. downloads, video views, clicks.
Over 90,000 people took some action to engage with the campaign messaging.
- 16kVisitors to the campaign landing page.
16,000 people clicked through to the TRAC website to find further information.
Are you looking to do something similar? Spread a message, change behaviour, increase sales, or improve customer service and satisfaction?
If this has been helpful, and you like the sound of how we approach problems and achieve results, get in touch now. We’d love to hear from you!