SpeedKills - But Only If You Like Us on Facebook

Posted by Shirley Brady on January 13, 2011 06:00 PM

The Australian town of Speed is renaming itself SpeedKills in order to promote road safety.

As part of a social media push organized by the state of Victoria's Transport Accident Commission, which hopes to move its messaging from focusing on drunk driving to getting drivers to slow down and tackle rural speed deaths with this campaign, Speed's 45 residents have agreed to rename their hometown if they get 10,000 'likes' on their Facebook page, which also features locals in videos about the campaign.

Speed was once notable for the roadsigns on the highway each side of the town reading "Welcome to Speed" but these have been replaced with council signs (sponsored by the local Lions Clubs) that say "Welcome to Speed — Please Slow Down."

Once they reach their Facebook goal, the TAC will donate $10,000 to the local Lions Club ... and (alas) the renaming will only be temporary.

More about: Place Branding, Naming, Speed, SpeedKills, Australia, Social Marketing, PSA

Pat says:

An update:

Well done, everyone! We've reached 10,000 likes so we're changing our town name from Speed to Speedkills.

What next? 20,000 likes and Phil Down (one of Speed's finest farmers) will change his name to Phil Slow Down. Stay tuned for what's next.

Good to see that they thought about the second step! I just wonder what else has been done to raise awareness of this initiative and if they are getting any results?

I'm not in Victoria so I haven’t see anything, or any national news coverage. Any Victorians able to comment?

January 16, 2011 05:08 PM #