‘Bikes repair easier than bikers’ – Highways England

Highways England has launched a new motorcycle safety campaign, aimed at those most likely to be killed or seriously injured: leisure riders.

The BikerTek campaign is centered around a spoof pop-up shop, which has been set up at bike shows and cafes across south east England.

The BikerTek shop sells new bike parts – which customers initially believe are genuine – until it is revealed that the ‘parts’ are in fact used to help repair the broken bones of injured riders.

More than 2,600 bikers have visited the shop, operated by ‘sales staff’, all of whom are bikers who have been involved in a collision.

Once engaged in conversation, the staff focus on four key behaviours: cornering, overtaking, speeding and fatigue.

‘Customers’ were filmed, showing their reactions when they realise what the parts are actually used for.

Highways England says riders are attracted by the striking similarity between the genuine motorcycle parts and their medical counterparts.

A successful formula?
BikerTek follows a similar format to a 2017 Highways England campaign, which highlighted to young powered two wheeler riders the consequences of not wearing protective clothing

The Distressed campaign – again based on a pop-up shop – explains to young riders why not wearing the right gear could ‘cost more than you think’.

Evaluation among the campaign’s target audience – young motorcycle and moped riders – showed:

• A 70% increase in young rider riders being more likely to check traffic thoroughly at junctions and roundabouts, and when filtering through traffic
• A 6% increase in the number of young riders saying they would wear protective clothing – with more than 75% saying they were ‘more likely’ to do so

The campaign also received the ‘Best Content Marketing Campaign’ award at the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM) Marketing Excellence Awards earlier this year.

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