Figures show that 1 in 5 people killed on Scotland’s roads over a five-year period were not wearing a seatbelt – and 20% of them were young men aged 16-25. While the campaign targeted all adults aged 18-34, it placed a sharper focus on this hard-to-reach demographic.
The stats were sobering but connecting with this audience was a challenge. Unlikely to engage with traditional media, we had to reach them through channels that felt relevant and authentic.
Enter FORTY Clothing – a Glasgow streetwear brand with serious clout with our target audience (Lewis Capaldi is a fan). Together, we launched a week-long takeover of FORTY’s flagship Royal Exchange Square store, combining street style with road safety.
The brand partnership included an attention-grabbing window display, in-store branding, editorial photography, and a limited-edition branded seatbelt cover giveaway to customers.
In addition to stats, we harnessed insights from research around key behaviour-change motivators – highlighting the danger that not belting up poses to others in the car, and the devastating impact of serious injury or loss on loved ones.
FORTY, founded by Harry Miller, pictured below, wholeheartedly backed the messaging, appealing to its customers to ‘Be a belter’ – Glasgow slang for being a legend – and positioning seatbelts as ‘the lifesaving, must-wear essential’. With over 80,000 followers across social media, their content achieved a 12.9% engagement rate.
Alongside the brand activation, we ran a wider media relations campaign supported by Police Scotland and sharing powerful personal stories from people who had experienced life-changing consequences.
Overall, we generated over 20 pieces of coverage, including in the Daily Record, The Herald and The National, while a supporting stakeholder push secured buy-in from nearly 60 key organisations across Scotland, who shared campaign assets on their social channels.
By partnering with a brand young men trust, we added style and cred to a serious safety message – and showed that seatbelts are always in fashion.
