#HandItOver: Distracted Driving Campaign Artifact
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,166 people were killed in 2017 due to distracted driving. NHTSA goes on to define distracted driving as any activity that diverts your attention from the task of safe driving (“U Drive. U Text. U Pay”, 2019). Texting and driving is one of the most common forms of distracted driving, especially for young drivers. According to a MarketWatch article, 40% of teenage drivers age 14 years and older reportedly texted while driving in the month prior (Fottrell, 2018).
The #HandItOver campaign’s objective is to influence the cessation of the texting while driving behavior. amongst young drivers via social media content. The intervention strategy uses the social learning theory as the guiding framework behind the campaign’s design.
The #HandItOver campaign was created by the NHTSA and is an extension of the organization’s U Drive. U Text. U Pay. campaign that emphasizes the danger of the behavior, along with the legal implications. The #HandItOver campaign extension targets young drivers, 15-18 years old, because texting and driving doubles for this particular age group (Fottrell, 2018). The campaign also aims to end the destructive driving behavior. early on in a driver’s lifetime.
Campaign Strategy
Snapchat was selected as the social media platform. of choice for the campaign because it is the most popular platform. for people 12-17 years old (Fitzgerald, 2018). The NHTSA will use Snapchat commercials for the launch of the campaign. The below video storyboard outlines the creative for the initial video ad designed to introduce #HandItOver. Snapchat commercials are six second, non-skippable videos that are played within Snapchat’s existing content (“Advertising", n.d.). Video was selected as the adverting medium within Snapchat because the viewer is forced to watch the entire video before seeing the rest of their content. Also, because viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text (“37 Staggering Video Marketing Statistics”, n.d.).
According to the NHTSA, peers are very influential in behavior. change initiatives for teens. Because of this, the #HandItOver campaign video emphasizes the idea that a passenger can initiate the desired outcome by helping a driver to not text while driving. One of the NHTSA’s suggestions for ending the texting and driving behavior. is to have a driver appoint a “designated texter” to handle all texting while in the vehicle. The designated texter message is used as the backbone of the #HandItOver campaign. The hope is that the designated texter concept will encourage passengers to assume the texting role for drivers and that drivers will simultaneously “hand over” control of their phone to the passenger. The desired result is that the campaign will alter young drivers’ perceptions that they personally need to respond to a message immediately. The campaign will also encourage passengers to play an active role in stopping the behavior. by influencing their peers to allow them to respond.
Social Learning Theory
The social learning theory is based on the idea that we enact behaviors we perceive rewarding and that we remember observing others partaking in (Willett, n.d.). There are a few important aspects of this theory. First, an individual must observe the actions of a model. Additionally, the modeled behavior. must be easy to remember, easy to perform, and the individual must be motivated to perform. the behavior. Below is an outline of the steps in the modeling process with notes on how the #HandItOver campaign addresses each step.
1. Attention and comprehension - The messaging of the campaign is simple and displayed via a common, teenage activity. Therefore, it is easy for the target demographic to understand the situation and the proposed action.
2. Retention - The creation of the hashtag associated with the campaign messaging will help with an individual’s retention of the concept.
3. Ability to perform - The steps taken by the models in the video are not overly complex or time-consuming. The simplicity will increase the viewing individual’s self-efficacy.
4. Motivation to perform - The video shows the teenagers meeting friends (the reward) due to their proactive steps taken while driving.
Additionally, some factors increase the likelihood of modeling which this campaign also tackles. First, the individual has to identify with the model. Hence, the use of teenagers in the campaign. Secondly, it must be realistic. Therefore, the video aims to recreate an arguably normal situation for many American teenagers. Lastly, the model must be in familiar content (Willett, n.d.). The campaign’s messaging encouraging friends to identify a “designated texter” follows in the footsteps of the successful “designated driver” campaign in the 1980s and 90s. The campaign seeks to piggyback off this familiar concept. There were many factors of the designated driving campaign that made it successful. The designated driver campaign took a modest and positive approach to the desired behavior. change, encouraging people to stop drinking and driving. It didn’t seek to stop or even change the complex societal issue that drinking and driving stemmed from (Winsten, 2011). Similarly, the #HandItOver campaign doesn’t aim to alter young people’s obsession with their cellphones but instead strives to curb a disruptive element of this social norm.
Tracking the Campaign
To track the campaign’s success, all advertisements will direct viewers to the #HandItOver landing page created by NHTSA. Directing people to the website will allow the NHTSA to see what channels are most influential in reaching the target audience and what actions the users take once they land on the site. The NHTSA can also keep tabs on the analytics provided by Snapchat. Additionally, the NHTSA will conduct periodic surveys amongst the target age group. The surveys can help to determine a benchmark for the campaign and track the ability of the intervention campaign to influence social norms and perceptions by the campaign’s end. Lastly, the NHTSA will track the number of reported distracted driving accidents before, during, and after the campaign to see if there was an ebb and flow in accident numbers. If there is a decrease in the amount of distracted driving accidents amongst the targeted age group then the campaign can be considered a success.