The objective of the campaign was to make UK drivers aware of a new service launched by the DVLA which would enable them to buy or renew their car tax online or by telephone. The service would ensure that taxing would, from now on, be far less taxing and could be done from home, abroad, the office or just about anywhere at any time.
The need for the service was illustrated by a survey which revealed that we are certainly a nation of internet admirers with over half of those surveyed already paying their bills and completing household administration online. Nearly two thirds preferred to do these tasks in the evening and 64% agreed that they would like do be able to do all their bill paying or admin online. With the survey also revealing that 41% of drivers have delayed paying a bill or re-taxing their car because they couldn’t find the right paperwork, the new service offered a timely change, especially as half of the respondents admitted they had no idea where they had put their important documents.
In order to effectively convey the details of the launch, we needed to create a strategy which allowed for extensive message delivery as well as a means to answer specific questions from the public. To this end, we undertook a series of interviews, recorded an informative audio feature and offered a DVLA representative for a live webchat. In order to grab media owners attention and bring the campaign into feature programming as well as news, MGB PR secured Jodie Kidd as one of the spokespeople for the radio campaign as not only was she a big draw for the media but she was also an excellent fit as a well known car enthusiast and accomplished driver.
As well as stressing the benefit to the UK’s 40 million drivers, DVLA Chief Executive, Clive Bennett also commented that, ‘the service demonstrates the significant progress that DVLA has made in improving the provision and accessibility of its service and also plays an important part of the Agency’s contribution to the wider initiative to modernise Government.”
The campaign secured coverage on over 100 radio stations with a combined weekly reach of more than 8 million. Stations involved included BBC Southern Counties, BBC Radio Sheffield and Heart 106. In addition, the online chats placed the DVLA’s key messages on 17 sites with a combined total of more than 4 million unique users. Furthermore, with coverage lasting a total of approximately 112 days, the campaign gave drivers ample opportunity to either participate in the live chat or seek further information from the transcript or the DVLA’s website at a later date.