Official records show an estimated 3,000 people die annually on Kenya's roads. However, this figure is grossly underestimated and focuses only on deaths reported on site. On average there are 30 road accidents per day.
While it's easy to point fingers at a largely untrained driver populous the problem is far broader. With no quality assurance for driving schools and licensing processes, Kenyans can buy their licenses rather than earn them. Gaping loopholes in the enforcement and penalties system allow un-roadworthy vehicles and speeding to go unchecked. Poor infrastructure and lack of government spending on basic standards such as traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and signage. Plus, lack of equipment to facilitate enforcement, eg speed cameras, alcoblow all foster a battle-zone mentality on Kenya's roads. And with minimal proactive or pre-emptive actions in the form of advertising and education it is largely left up to the business sector to deliver CSR campaigns which are ineffective due to limited spending and lack of cohesion.
When members of Safaricom and the Media Owners Association were all personally effected by road deaths, they got together and formed the National Road Safety Trust with the idea of pooling all corporate resources into larger, more targeted efforts. I was pulled in before the Trust was formed to work closely with the stakeholders in developing a framework and an initial launch campaign to highlight the issue and get people talking.
From many campaigns, this one was chosen because it tapped into an important insight which is that even though Kenyan's know the situation is bad, it has become an accepted part of daily life. It's just the way things are and no one ever says anything to prevent it. Nobody ever speaks out.
We needed an argument for the corporate sector to join forces and deliver money into the Trust Fund so I wrote and designed this 64 page funding document which set up the problem and clearly laid out the vision of how funds would be managed as well as highlighting the key responsibilities for the Media, Government, Public and Corporate sectors.
With lots of statistics and graphs these things can get a bit dry so I tried to keep it quite graphic and engaging whist still maintaining a corporate feel.
The meaning of Toa Sauti
Toa Sauti became the catch cry for the campaign because it is a call to action to speak out. Literally translated it means "Bring out the voice" in Swahili but is generally used as a forceful way of saying "speak out" or "say something". So I designed the logo to reflect that sentiment but also to resemble a volume dial.
But while Toa Sauti becomes the philosophy and symbol to carry through to succeeding campaigns, this launch campaign uses the end line "The silence is killing us" because of the silent resignation that all Kenya's hold towards the issue of road safety.
The silence is killing us
From this thought I created a 360 campaign. This was then included in the funding booklet and each industry was offered tailored executions upon which companies could place their logo once having donated to the NRST Trust fund.
The Fifth Sense thematic
A high impact thematic TVC entitled The Fifth Sense is soon to go into production.
setting up the problem with a haunting series of vignettes that highlight the bad driver and pedestrian practices that lead to catastrophic incidents. At the same time it highlights the broader problem that nobody ever says anything to prevent disaster in the first place. The images of friends and loved ones with missing mouths watching those close to them set themselves up for tragedy has been deemed the harrowing wake up call that Kenyans need to start talking with each other and their community leaders to initiate change at all levels of society.
As a stop gap the NRST ordered that a low cost interim TVC be launched in conjunction with the other material to get the conversation started and curb the carnage; particularly over the holiday period. The trick was to deliver something which was still impactful with out impacting on the successive campaigns' budget. My solution was an all type message which can be viewed to the right.
Web and Social Component
Clearly the proposition to Toa Sauti (speak out) is a moot point without the means to action it so the public has been offered a range of channels though the website which link directly into the major social media platforms. Here, as well taking users on a journey of current current statistics and good driving practices, users can chose to post personal pledges to their digital spaces or send premade messages via twitter and facebook to those in their social tribes.
The Twitter Explosion
Social media became the strongest platform for Kenyans to Toa Sauti and Twitter quickly became the cornerstone of this messaging. Initially a team was set up to collate and deal with the public response by forwarding relevant findings and details onto the Police Traffic Department. However, the response was so overwhelming that the data became unmanageable by the staff tasked to deal with it. Just a few weeks after launch of this campaign the National Road Safety Trust Secratariat had received more than 100,000 responses on Twitter alone before they stopped counting in order to reorganise and better equip themselves for the torrent of responses.
Below are a few examples of actual tweets from Kenyans speaking out on road safety by calling out bad drivers publicly
Clareville
Sydney
Australia
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