Marketing Australian Road Safety Foundation

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Management for Australian Road Safety Foundation. Answer: About Australian Road Safety Foundation The Australian Road Safety Foundation is an NGO in Australia that works with a vision of reducing injuries and deaths in road accidents. The organization is chosen as it improves road safety awareness, reduces the impact of road trauma and enhances driver education. The organization aims to raise awareness of social and economic costs related to road safety and accidents. The NGO provides training resources for both students and parents so that they follow the norms strictly to ensure safety. The NGO has a mission to promote standards and increase awareness among road users. The NGO currently runs other divisions such as Fatality Free Friday that focuses on encouraging zero fatality for just one day. The organization has various partners including Queensland Government and Transport for NSW. Running a campaign for The Australian Road Safety Foundation may encourage the above mentioned partners to modify policies and implement strict regulations on prohibiting rules for road safety. The Campaign Focus The focus of this campaign is on maximizing road safety and minimizing road injuries and accidents. Usage of mobile phone while driving can be fatal not just to the person during the vehicle, but also to the other people driving or walking on road. The studies show that communicating on a mobile while driving puts the driver at a greater risk of crash. Therefore, this campaign focuses on discouraging talking and texting on mobile phone to reduce the risk of a car crash (Roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au, 2017). SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a simple tool that can be used to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by Australian Road Safety Foundation. Strengths The NGO has excellent working partners such as Caltex, Suncorp Insurance, Queensland Government, Driver Safety, Quill and multiple others (Australianroadsafetyfoundation.com, 2017). The staffs are highly dedicated to ensure least injuries and deaths in road accidents. The NGO provides education using several resources and materials that enables people in localising road safety initiatives. Weaknesses There is lack of co-ordination between groups in regard to education. As there are many agencies involved in it, the reporting errors may lead to duplication of efforts and causing confusion among public (Ewing, 2013). Opportunities There is opportunity to reduce road accidents causing injuries and fatalities by enhancing education programmes. Better working opportunities and developing new campaigns to reduce road accidents (Gowrisankaran, Nevo, Town, 2013). Threats It may be difficult to recruit and retain staffs at an NGO. Low cost safety measures from the regulator bodies may prevent from conducting campaigns successfully. People may not address the concerns or objectives of road safety concerns leading to failure of campaign (Lefebvre, 2013). Table 1: SWOT Analysis Target Market Selection The target market selected for the road safety campaign are both men and women aged 17-25 as they have the highest fatalities (Bitre.gov.au, 2012). Rates of deaths per population in the age-group 1725 years are almost twice as high as the total average (Bitre.gov.au, 2012). The secondary target group are all the Australians as the rate of road deaths has increased by 12.1% to 117 as per the figures of December 2016 (Bitre.gov.au, 2017). A total of 1,300 road deaths have been reported between December 2015 and December 2016 (Bitre.gov.au, 2017). The age group 17-25 are more likely to engage in drinking activities. Also, this age group uses mobile phones more than the other age groups and tend to drive blindly while talking or texting over their mobiles. Therefore, there is a need to address this target group for maximum road safety. This campaign encourages changing the behaviour of target group by discouraging drunk driving or using mobile while driving (McKeown, 2014). Marketing Mix Strategy Social marketing intends to inflict certain behaviours among individuals that benefit the target audience as well as the entire community. Therefore, the 4Ps of marketing are different from the business marketing mix designed for profit-making organizations. Product The product mix in social marketing may not necessarily be a physical offering. The products, practices or services may be intangible in nature for a social cause. The three levels of product offered are core product, actual product and augmented product. The core product is the intangible product. It refers to the benefit of product is the campaign responsible for avoiding texts or calls while driving. The high number of road accidents and fatalities are increasing due to distracted drivers (Gowrisankaran, Nevo, Town, 2013). The problem is found across Australia and the campaign product may resolve this issue using this solution. The actual product is tangible in nature. It is the educational material and training resources that shall make the drivers aware of the ill-effects of texting while driving. The augmented product is the non physical part of the product. It adds to the value of actual product as the road accidents causing injuries and fatalities can be reduced by implement ing this product (Lefebvre, 2013). Price Price in social marketing mix does not necessarily be monetary as it requires the customers to give something up. In the given scenario, the social marketing campaign to avoid texting while driving shall involve the drivers getting less involved in crash. However, the price that needs to be paid is less communication of the drivers with their family, friends or acquaintances. The drivers may also have to pay a price of cutting off from the social environment as long as they are driving. The people may miss out on important information that their family, friends or acquaintances need to communicate. However, these behaviours and activities shall lower the chances of getting involved in accident. Therefore, the emotional psychological and time limit costs need to be paid by the individuals to engage in social behaviour or activity (Lefebvre, 2013). Place In social marketing, place refers to the channel in which campaign reaches the consumer. The campaign may be conducted through various channels such as press releases, billboards, online advertisements, radio messaging, television commercials, social networks and informational sessions. The campaign may be conducted at places where there are huge audiences such as malls and plaza that has large number of youth. Bands may be given to the drivers as a trademark of the campaign (Chunawalla, 2015). The bands may also be given at the intersection traffic signals. This band shall act as a symbol of consciousness among drivers. These channels and places shall make it more convenient and pleasant for the target audience to adopt behaviour against mobile usage while driving. The peer educators and volunteers can make the program or campaign successful by educating people online. The audience may be targeted and provided with educational resources and training materials so that the campaign re aches maximum places (?ahinyazan, Kara, Taner, 2015). Promotion Promotion is defined as the marketing communications to inform the consumers about products. Promotion reinstates awareness and reminds consumers to stop mobile usage while driving. Informational meetings and campaigns regarding tips on safe driving can be enabled. Electronic simulator usage can be highlighted that allows people to text and drive car at the same time. The dangers involved in using mobile while driving shall be reinstated. The eye opening hoardings and displays can encourage people to avoid mobile phone usage while driving. The banners and campaigns such as It can wait, Someone is waiting home and various others can be used to discourage mobile usage while driving. A large number of people can be targeted using the social media marketing campaigns using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and various others (Hitt et al., 2014). Attention-Grabbing Message The campaign that can be designed for Australian Road Safety Foundation is Dont text yourself to death. This campaign shall target the individuals who use their mobile phones while driving. There is nothing more important than being safe on road. People have loved ones waiting at home and one must not be tempted to send a quick message or talk on phone. Texting and driving is a serious concern and the campaign looks forward to outline the social and economic costs that may be laid upon the victim (Ridout Franz, 2011). Evaluation of Effectiveness of Campaign The effectiveness of campaign can be measured by assessing the number of injuries and fatalities caused in the road accident. The statistics of the road accident for the targeted age group 17-25 shall also depict the effectiveness of road safety campaign. The decrease in number of victims can be assessed to evaluate the effectiveness of campaign (Rice Paisley, 2012). Conclusion Conclusively, road safety is a major concern and must be addressed immediately. The increasing number of injuries and fatalities caused on road needs to be managed as soon as possible. Dont text yourself to death could be an initiative for Australian Road Safety Foundation to reduce road accidents and maximize road safety. This campaign focuses on discouraging talking and texting on mobile phone to reduce the risk of a car crash. References Australianroadsafetyfoundation.com,. (2017).Partners - Australian Road Safety Foundation.Australianroadsafetyfoundation.com. Retrieved 9 February 2017, from https://www.australianroadsafetyfoundation.com/links/ Bitre.gov.au,. (2012).Road Deaths Australia 2012 Statistical Summary. Canberra: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. Retrieved from https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/RDA_Summary_2012_June.pdf Bitre.gov.au,. (2017).Road Deaths AustraliaMonthly Bulletins.Bitre.gov.au. Retrieved 9 February 2017, from https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/road_deaths_australia_monthly_bulletins.aspx Chunawalla, S. (2015).Advertising, sales and promotion management(1st ed.). Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. 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