Think HQ has put barbers and hairdressers in the driving seat to ignite behaviour-changing conversations in communities across Victoria in a new seatbelt-focused road safety initiative for the state’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC).
‘Cut, Colour, Click’ aims to promote a safety-first culture on Victoria’s roads, with an emphasis on the importance of wearing seatbelts. The pilot initiative takes the message directly into communities to kickstart safety conversations at grassroots level in places people already feel safe—their local hair salon or barber shop.
Recognising that yet another agenda setting initiative telling people to wear seatbelts wasn’t going to cut through, Think HQ took the message to barbershops and salons, where real, meaningful conversations happen with trusted community voices.
The agency formed ambassador partnerships with stylists and barbers across the state, and equipped them with critical messages, conversation starter cards, factsheets, campaign-branded smocks, mirror decals and in-salon displays.
The ‘Cut, Colour, Click’ initiative’s overarching tagline, ‘Seatbelts keep us together’, taps into the importance of community and family, with all creative reinforcing the positioning. In the hero image, two extended seatbelt straps meet in the middle to click together, with each sash made from the word ‘together’ in multiple languages to reinforce the inclusive campaign’s message for all Victorians—seatbelts keep us together, but only if everyone buckles up.
“This is a textbook example of how Think HQ’s unique integrated offer can be leveraged to connect with Victorians directly in the communities where they live, work and play—and get their hair done. It is facilitating the safety conversations we need to have in a meaningful way —through authentic dialogue and real, direct one-to-one engagement,” said Think HQ founder and managing director Jen Sharpe.
“‘Cut, Colour, Click’ shows the power of working with communities and empowering them to drive positive change. A simple idea can deliver big results, and a single conversation can too. In this TAC initiative, that chat in the chair matters just as much as the cut you came for.”
“The TAC is always looking for new and innovative ways to engage with all corners of the community on the actions we can all take to keep ourselves and others safe on the roads—like wearing a seatbelt,” added TAC head of community Jacqui Sampson. “Working with Think HQ and CultureVerse has helped the TAC show up differently and amplify critical messages through trusted channels that are not typical but highly impactful and scalable.”
The tagline and a stark black, white, grey and red colour scheme carry across all the initiative’s assets. Simple graphics, drawings and the dramatic, limited use of colour are designed to focus attention and clearly illustrate campaign messages, including correct seatbelt use, and the potential impacts on the driver and front and back seat passengers of not wearing one, from fines to serious injury and death.
CultureVerse, Think HQ’s integrated below the line pilot initiative also incorporates local and in-language media activity across Victoria, including radio grabs developed for community radio stations, building case studies for media, social content with ambassadors, as well as stakeholder engagement with multicultural and community organisations state-wide.
To reach as many Victorians as possible with seatbelt safety messaging, Think HQ produced all the creative assets in 10 languages, and developed a multilingual campaign microsite that housed all the campaign assets including downloadable social tiles, posters, infographics, fact sheets and conversations starters.
The initiative is live across Victoria.
Credits:
TAC:
Acting TAC CEO: Jacqui Simpson
Team Manager: Michael Knox
Senior Manager Marketing: Angela Hann
Campaign Manager: Michaela Clayton
Campaign Coordinator: Holly Woodhouse
Advisor | Media Relations & Corporate Affairs: Alex Whit
Think HQ:
Founder and Managing Director: Jen Sharpe
Head of Creative Strategy: Lisa Gumbleton
Client Director: Laura Kennewell
Creative Director: Sam McCarron
Art Director: Camilo Suarez
Copywriter: Mie Sorensen
Designer: Tina Tran
Producer: Callum Yeo
Group Head of Strategic Communications & PR: Luke Holland
Account Director: Chloe Tran
Senior Account Executive: Miko Hernandez
Account Coordinator: Leon Kuhlmann
Account Coordinator: Hayley Naidu-Fernandez
Chief Technology Officer: Oliver Laude
Digital Project Manager: Brogan Palmer
Front End Developer: Thuan Le
Chief Audiences Officer: Jessica Billimoria
Head of Language Services: Cameron Darke
Language Services Project Manager and Analyst: Anna Wang
