The "Hugger" campaign supported by the Smart Cities project has won the gold award by the national Local Government Communications competition. Together with the fostering campaign it will also be submitted for the Institute of Public Relations awards.

Smart Cities contributed into both the initial research and the design of the campaign by the agency. The images and messages as well as locations for adverts were based on the MOSAIC customer profile.

The Think! Norfolk partnership launched the ‘Hugger’ campaign in Norfolk in April 2009 on the back of alarming statistics showing motorcyclists made up only 1% of traffic on Norfolk’s roads, but represented a staggering 26% of people killed or seriously injured.

Research – including a focus group with 60 people from motorcycling groups in the county - showed that there were two major problems that needed to be addressed:

• Motorists had a negative opinion of motorcyclists, which consequently was affecting the attention being shown to them on the road.
• Rider’s skills – especially amongst those aged 40+ needed improvement.

From the focus group, the Hugger character, named after a rear mudguard, was developed, to universal acceptance.

The character was to become the face of motorcycling in the county with the two fold objective of reassuring road users and not demonising the motorcyclist.

The key to a successful implementation of the campaign was the timing and positioning of a positive character that could have resonance and change behaviour with two different road user groups.

Motorists had to develop more respect and awareness of motorcyclists to help reduce collisions and thus fatalities involving motorbikes. Bikers had to be convinced that their skills had to improve.

Initially, the campaign was aimed at motorists so the motorcycling community could see we were serious about changing motorist’s perception of them.

This approach sped up their acceptance of Hugger as the mascot of the motorcycle community where cynicism of motorcycling advertising is historical. This positive pro-biker approach was praised in the national publication Motorcycle News.

Later in the year, as more motorcyclists took to Norfolk’s roads during the summer, the campaign concentrated on specific messages for motorcyclists encouraging them to consider additional training to improve their skills, the protection they wore during hot weather and to be proud of good biking skills.

Using this approach with Hugger as the lead, allowed more sensitive messages to be delivery in a fresh, more acceptable way and helped boost community reassurance that Norfolk’s roads are safe for all road users.

The Hugger character was devised in-house by Norfolk County Council on behalf of the Think Norfolk partnership.

The campaign was supported by an extensive media, marketing and educational campaign that included prominent advertising across Norfolk’s buses, newspapers, specialist magazines and petrol forecourts and bus backs.

Much of the publicity was aimed at driving the motorcyclist to take the ‘Hugger Challenge’ which would identify gaps in their skills. 81 people have taken the challenge to date compared to only three people took a similar course in 2008. The 2010 budget will focus on raising this number to 500. This was supported by the distribution of promotional material such as flyers, key rings and car stickers at key events and bike rallies in Norfolk.

The versatility of Hugger allowed for mini-campaigns such as ‘Sweat it or Regret it’ focussed on wearing appropriate clothing when on your bike. Hugger also had his own Twitter and Facebook pages. The team also attended many events and bike rallies.

Crucially, all 39 motorcycle dealerships in Norfolk promoted Hugger including giving a Hugger Riding Pack to anyone buying a new bike or moped. The pack contains promotional material and Hugger’s Challenge details. All dealers also displayed 6ft Hugger cut outs.

For consistency, all Think Bike! road signs in Norfolk are being replaced to include Hugger.

Evaluation:

In 2008 102 motorcyclists were killed or seriously injured (KSI) on Norfolk’s roads – of which 13 were fatal injuries. A further 248 suffered slight injuries

In 2009, the KSI figure fell to 93 - of which 10 were fatal - and the number suffering slight injuries fell to 227.

This gives us an 8.8% reduction in KSI and 8.5% reduction in slight injuries from 2008. By comparison, the latest national figures show a 3.5% reduction in KSI and 2% reduction in slight injuries to motorcyclists from the previous year, putting Norfolk’s performance well ahead of national figures.

The Driving Standards Agency have held Hugger’s Challenge up as an example of how other local authorities can promote ERS (DSA Enhanced Rider Certificate).

Five other local authorities have asked to use Hugger in their campaigns.