Don't be a Boo Boo when it comes to road safety, urges Bajaj Allianz

The direct insurance company promotes the cause of road safety through the animated characters of the Boo Boo family.

Road accidents are perhaps one of the most common causes of death in India. Yet, many Indians continue to callously flout road safety rules. Working on this insight, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, in association with WATConsult, has developed a digital ad campaign called 'Don't be a Boo Boo', aimed to create awareness about road safety. The campaign features the Boo Boos, a family of five cartoon characters, who break traffic rules and land in trouble. The film is quite relatable, and gets across its message effectively with a sprinkle of humour.

The campaign, which was launched on November 14, has the Boo Boo characters flout traffic rules such as not wear seat belts, indulge in drunken driving, and text while driving. As a result, they get into trouble and pay fines. The film also draws attention towards Bajaj Allianz Motor Insurance features.

The campaign targets metro dwellers in the 28-45 years age bracket, especially car owners and users who consume new-age content. It has made use of social and digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Hotstar, besides a Dubsmash contest that has been planned, and a game created as part of the campaign. The brand claims to have generated more than 1,10,000 impressions from Twitter and Facebook on the launch day itself, while it trended on Twitter through a unique activity initiated for the same.

Apart from digital, the brand also has plans to create interesting Boo Boo coasters, posters, bookmarks, as well as greeting cards that will be a part of the brand merchandise and will be handed out during various activities carried out during the entire duration of the campaign.

The brand claims that ad spends for the 'Don't be a Boo Boo' campaign have been the highest that Bajaj Allianz has invested so far on digital. The budget includes promotions on Facebook and YouTube largely followed by native ads on Hotstar.

Referring to the campaign, Sourabh Chatterjee, head, IT, digital marketing and web sales, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, says, "The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness and start a conversation on the serious topic of road safety, in a light-hearted and humorous way. We hope that our 'Don't be a Boo Boo' campaign' will be fun to watch and carry home the message on road safety along with the need to follow traffic rules."

While talking about the campaign, Rajiv Dingra, founder and CEO, WATConsult, adds, "When team Bajaj Allianz briefed us on the kind of campaign they wanted to execute for road safety, we decided to use a comic tone rather than walk the conventional path. A team at WATConsult worked with complete dedication for the campaign, right from sketching the Boo Boo characters and compose the song, to make the full animation video. We hope the campaign goes beyond digital, and impacts society at large."

When asked about similar campaigns from other players in the segment, Dingra says, "The use of animated characters and a catchy jingle is unique in the space so far. The USP of the campaign lies in the fact that we are not just using children, but parents, too, who break traffic rules. It was important to break the clutter of serious communication surrounding road safety messaging. We wanted to create something memorable and effective. A catchy jingle with animated visuals seemed liked the clear winner."

Expressing his views on the marketing challenges encountered during the campaign, Dingra notes, "Finding the mix of right tonality and message was the biggest challenge for us. This being an oblique approach, it was necessary to be careful in appealing to not just car owners and drivers, but also kids. The visual language was to be designed such that it lent well to every form of merchandising and media extensions."

Talking about how effective the campaign will be to promote the brand, Dingra says, "Creating conversations around road safety is not just to generate awareness towards avoiding wrong behaviour on road, but also about the brand's insurance products. It satisfies the dual goal of social traction and product awareness."