The Department for Transport identifies road safety issues and target audiences for advertising campaigns. Researchers study the target audiences' behaviors and attitudes. Advertising planners develop strategic insights from this research to guide campaign development. Communications experts create strategies around key messages and appropriate media channels. Advertising agencies then develop creative ideas tested with focus groups. The final ads must be approved before production and a media launch. Researchers later evaluate if the campaign affected audiences' behaviors as intended.

1. www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/secondary
Page 1
EDUCATION
Key Stage 4 / English and Drama / Lesson 2
The Department for Transport advertising campaigns: the process
The brief
The Department for Transport identifies road safety issues that an advertising campaign might help to address. A target audience is indentified.
For example: Some people do not wear their seat belt on every journey. The campaign will target people aged 17–25, where this is a particular problem.
Research
Researchers find out more about the target audience and their behaviour in the area that the advertisement is going to be about.
For example: Is not wearing a seat belt more common among men or women? Is it more of a problem on short or long journeys? Why is it that people don’t
wear them?
Advertising planning
Planners develop “key strategic insights” based on the research. These are ideas that really help us to understand why people behave as they do, that will guide the development of the campaign.
For example: Improvements in car safety make young men in the target age group mistakenly believe that they don’t need to wear seat belts, e.g. because air bags will save them.
Developing a communications strategy and creative brief
Communications experts develop a strategy:
• They identify the key messages that the advertising campaign will need to include.
• They carefully select media channels based on how effective they will be in helping to achieve the campaign’s objectives with the target audience.
Certain media will do different jobs. For example broadcast media (e.g. TV, radio or outdoor advertising) is good at building awareness and more “narrowcast” media (e.g. print or online) allows greater intimacy
or interaction.
For example: Focusing on the damage that can be done to the body of a person not wearing a seat belt during a collision, even when the car is fitted with an air bag. Many people in this group watch TV, so this is likely to be an effective media channel.

2. www.dft.gov.uk/think/education/secondary
Page 2
EDUCATION
Key Stage 4 / English and Drama / Lesson 2
Creative development
An advertising agency uses the communications strategy as the basis for developing creative idea
for the campaign:
• The input of the Department for Transport policy experts is crucial to make sure that the messages communicated are factually correct.
• Campaign ideas are tested with focus groups made up of members of the target audience at every stage of development, including final scripts. The script which is most effective with the target audience will probably be refined to reflect any insights from the script research.
For example: If the agency is putting together a TV campaign, they will present ideas to the Department for Transport, seeking approval before working them up into scripts. The final script will need to be approved by road safety policy at the Department for Transport and the minister for road safety.
Production
The advertising agency creates the advertisement. Advertising standards agencies must approve the campaign for the channel for which it is intended.
For example: Filming and editing a TV advertisement, building a website, designing posters. The advertising standards agencies may feel that it is not appropriate to show the advert on TV before the 9pm watershed, so adjustments may need to be made if it is felt that the target audience is most likely to be watching
before this time.
Media planning and buying and launch
Media buyers buy advertising space, and the campaign is launched. Government ministers may be involved in launching the campaign, and related PR activity takes place.
For example: Media buyers negotiate prices for and buy time slots on TV or at the cinema, put advertisements on the internet or in newspapers and magazines, depending on what is most likely to reach the target audience.
Evaluation
Researchers speak to members of the target
audience to find out if the campaign has worked.
This information will help the Department for
Transport to develop future campaigns.
For example: They try to identify ‘take out’ – what messages do people remember after they have seen the advertisement? Is this the message that the Department for Transport was trying to convey?
Has this affected the behaviour of the target audience? Do they always wear a seat belt now?
The Department for Transport advertising campaigns: The process