Hi all,
If you’re looking for a compelling behaviour change program related to safety, check out the “Wear it” campaign run by the U.S. coast guard. Though it is American-based, the campaign itself is global and aims to reach recreational boaters in a multitude of ways regarding boating safety. Just based off of looking at the website and their priority group engagement offerings, this is one of the best campaigns I have come across in the past few years.
The very first thing that you see when you go to the website homepage are the words “Wear it” – simple, bold, and impactful. The website is easy to navigate and makes wearing a life jacket seem fun as opposed to burdensome or uncool. They have opportunities for people to “Take the pledge” – that is, to make a written commitment to wearing a life jacket while on the water. You may know from your CBSM training that written commitments, especially when made public, are a powerful way to influence behaviour. They also have plenty of free resources including logos, social media content, event toolkits, flyers, infographics, videos, print ads, and more.
There is also a ‘Boat On Course’, which provides educational boating safety videos for boaters. The videos are brief, easy to understand, and give you a chance to test your knowledge at the end. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the videos include people with ethnic, gender, and age diversity.
For organizations that are interested in partnering, they are equipped with the recognized ‘Wear It’ logo for branding purposes. Marketing resources related to this are available for free. And finally, the organizers offer swag as an incentive for participation.
If you’d like to find out more about the ‘Wear It’ campaign, you can explore the website here.
