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By Gillian West, Social media manager

March 17, 2015 | 2 min read

Transport for London (TfL) is targeting young teenagers aged 11-14 with an integrated campaign encouraging responsible behaviour and to persuade them to give their full attention to crossing roads.

‘The hare and the tortoise’ re-imagines the old fable in a bid to make ‘slow’ cool.

Created by M&C Saatchi the ad centres on two groups of teenagers – one group wearing hare masks, the other with tortoise masks – heading for a fancy dress party and teasing one another from a distance. As the hares run through a tunnel, the tortoises walk slowly in an urban setting, with one of the hares getting knocked down as a result.

Pippa MacSherry, head of marketing operational at TfL, said the work is a natural extension of the long-running ‘Don’t let your friendship die on the road’ campaign.

“By encouraging a more considered approach to crossing the road, we hope to reduce the number of pedestrian road related collisions. The campaign updates and re-imagines the classic tale of the hare and the tortoise – to show how ‘slow’ wins out,” she said.

Ed Palmer, managing partner at M&C Saatchi, commented: “It’s perilously easy to patronise and finger wag with this audience. Putting a modern twist on a well-known fable allows us to land our message without resorting to the more well-trodden type of cautionary tale to which this audience has become inured. The creative approach was to make safe roadside behaviour more appealing and aspirational for this audience.”

The campaign will run across video-on-demand, cinema and social from early March and builds on neuro-scientific research which suggests the target age range is less likely to exercise restraint.

Transport For London (TFL) M&C Saatchi

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