The Yellow caps campaign was launched in 2006, when If began distributing bright yellow caps with reflective strips to first graders in order to improve children’s visibility in traffic as part of its corporate responsibility work.
Over two decades, the cap has become a back-to-school tradition, and more than one million children have received their own. For the 20th anniversary of the Yellow caps, If aimed to secure both national and local media visibility for the campaign — especially given that children’s traffic safety has improved significantly over the past 20 years.
Ahjo’s strategy
The strategy was to gain national media coverage on morning TV and in local outlets across Finland. The goal was to highlight a human and relatable perspective by featuring school principals in local media, enabling them to share insights about children’s traffic safety in their own communities. Another objective was to showcase the 20-year journey of the Yellow caps campaign and the positive development in schoolchildren’s traffic safety, supported by Finnish Road Safety Council’s statistics.
Ahjo reached out to principals from 10 local schools and pitched them as interviewees to 10 local media outlets during the back-to-school week. For national morning TV visibility, Ahjo pitched Juha T. Virtanen, spokesperson of If, and Laura Väinölä, Finnish Road Safety Council’s expert, to MTV’s Huomenta Suomi morning show during the back-to-school week.
Results
The campaign achieved strong media visibility both nationally and regionally.
- Interview on MTV’s morning show Huomenta Suomi and an article on MTV News
- 10 media hits across 6 different local outlets throughout Finland
- Total reach: 1 022 000
If was extremely satisfied with the collaboration. The client gave an NPS score of 10 when asked how likely they were to recommend Ahjo.
“Working together, I think we came up with a really strong plan, and its practical execution was excellent. Communication was smooth. Thank you!”
– Henna Nikkari, Head of Press, If