Road safety meets a time-honoured Christmas tradition with the launch today of the Transport Accident Commission’s ‘Spend it Wisely’ advent calendar initiative, developed in close partnership with Melbourne-based creative agency TABOO.
The digital advent calendar provides 25 days of road safety tips, plus offers and discounts to businesses throughout the holiday season, to help Victorians have an enjoyable and safe Christmas on and off the road.
The initiative was launched at Federation Square today, where a giant version of the digital calendar will be located until 25 December.
A host of businesses have come on board to contribute offers and discounts for each day of the advent calendar, including Sans Drinks, Village Cinemas and the Melbourne Museum.
The calendar encourages Victorians to Spend it Wisely in all forms – from spending money with businesses that have done it tough this year, to spending time on the roads safely to get home to their loved ones.
TAC CEO Joe Calafiore highlighted the fact that last year, 17 people died on Victorian roads from the start of December up to Christmas Day, and 21 people lost their lives in the month of December.
“We’ve all done a great job of looking out for each other this year and we want people to extend that care to their fellow road users and contribute to making every journey a safe journey this Christmas,” Calafiore said.
“We all deserve to spend time with our loved ones this festive season, so we are pleading with Victorians to keep themselves, their families and other road users safe when they get on the road.”
Matilda Hobba, general manager at TABOO, said the creative platform strived to spread the message of road safety in a light, uplifting way for the festive season.
“A concept built around the long-adored advent calendar, the Spend it Wisely campaign celebrates the Christmas values of thoughtfulness and care, and asks Victorians to remember those values when they’re travelling around the state.
“This is another TAC campaign we’ve been incredibly proud to bring to life, with the support of the amazing community of Australian businesses that feature in the calendar.”
Spend it Wisely ambassadors will also visit Bendigo, Shepparton, Traralgon, Wangaratta, Ballarat and Geelong throughout December, providing advent calendars to regional Victorians.
Victorians can visit tac.vic.gov.au/spenditwisely to open the advent calendar’s window each day until Christmas and enjoy a range of giveaways and have the chance to win a staycation in Melbourne.
