SABMiller launches 'Blow the Whistle' road safety initiative

The initiative on digital media is aimed at creating awareness about road safety. During the festive season, whistles will be distributed to people to enable them to blow them at rule breakers

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | November 6, 2013

SABMiller India, as part of its 'Respect the Road' don't drink and drive campaign, has launched the 'Blow the Whistle' initiative on digital media to promote the message of responsible drinking and overall road safety. As part of the initiative, people would be given whistles to blow against all kinds of road and traffic offenders, e.g., signal jumpers, rash drivers, people indulging in drinking and driving, etc.

'Respect the Road' is India's biggest don't drink and drive campaign on the digital platform. Going beyond highlighting the perils of drunk driving, the Facebook page of the campaign will now also highlight dangerous and risky road behaviour leading to road accidents and fatalities. The page will showcase whistle creatives and images of people blowing whistles at traffic offenders. The objective is to involve people and encourage them to participate in this campaign to address the issue of road safety. People can post pictures of road offenders, share their experiences and testimonials of blowing whistles at offenders and send in pictures and videos of what/who would they blow the whistle against.

The campaign would also urge people to help the victims in a road mishap and respond when they hear a whistle on the street.

The campaign was taken on ground during the festive season where people could come and share their thoughts on making roads safer. Whistles will be distributed to people for them to blow them against road offenders and rule breakers. Other engaging activities like quizzes, street plays will be organised to create awareness about the campaign and the issue of road safety.

Meenakshi Sharma, Vice-President, Sustainability and Communications at SABMiller India, said, “Promoting responsible drinking is one of the core sustainable priorities for SABMiller worldwide.  Through 'Respect the Road- Don't drink and drive' campaign, we promote responsible drinking encouraging people to use alternatives to drinking and driving such as calling a cab, hiring a chauffeur or designating a buddy to drive. 'Blow the Whistle' initiative is an extension of our campaign and goes a step further to involve people giving them the responsibility to take action and spread the word about road safety. We are confident that people will step out of their comfort zones and blow the whistle against road offenders.”

Mayank Agarwal, CEO, Geek Creative, said, “Blow the Whistle was conceptualised as an initiative to involve people on ground and encourage them to take up the issue of road safety. Through social media, we will engage with people through pictorial representations, participation through quizzes, contests and encourage people to use a whistle against traffic and road offenders. Our strategy involves a 360 degree integration of the top digital platforms to connect with our audience and spread awareness about road safety.”

SABMiller's 'Respect the Road - Don't Drink and Drive' campaign, launched in Gurgaon in 2011, has been instrumental in spreading and promoting the message of responsible drinking.  The campaign has put up hoardings and branding with the message of responsible drinking at popular intersections, petrol pumps, pubs and bars in Gurgaon. The campaign has staged interactive street plays on responsible drinking, tied up with radio stations urging listeners to pledge for responsible drinking and associated with cab services to spread the message of responsible drinking and road safety.

The Facebook page of the campaign ( is highly interactive with more than 30,000 followers. Recently, a 'safety shayari' contest was organised where twitterati tweeted road safety slogans in the form of shayari along with the hashtag #Blow the Whistle. Within hours both 'Blow the Whistle' and 'Safety Shayari' hashtags # were trending all over India and the campaign reached over one lakh people.

SABMiller's 'Respect the Road - Don't Drink and Drive' campaign has partnered with Home Safe, Delhi NCR's first chauffeur service, popular radio taxi providers Mega Cabs, and radio station Radio City.

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