TfL Ref: FOI-1951-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 28 November 2021, asking for information about spend on the See Their Side campaign.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
The ‘See their Side’ campaign was developed following new research commissioned by TfL, and engagement with various stakeholder organisations. The independent research commissioned by TfL involved qualitative research with psychologists, police, road safety managers and public relations professionals, as well as cultural analysis on thousands of sources of literature, social and traditional media, and a review of more than 100 adverts over 20 years.
The research found that individually, culturally and as a society, we tend to ignore road danger at best, but we also accept it and normalise it – and importantly, believe it is inevitable. Decades of road safety advertising have largely failed to change behaviour for the better among road users, because risky behaviours are an expression of the values and beliefs people hold about acceptable road use.
The proposal to tackle the culture of road use was supported by stakeholders and TfL sought feedback from stakeholders at two specific phases of campaign development, including a draft script. TfL has been open and transparent with stakeholder organisations and sought to deliver the ‘See their Side’ campaign with their support. TfL will continue to listen to feedback and improve engagement processes.
TfL maintains that it cannot achieve Vision Zero on its own and continues to be committed to engaging fully with partners in the development and delivery of initiatives that seek to reduce road danger on London’s streets.
With regards to the specific questions you asked:
What budget was allocated for the purpose of the Road Safety Week campaign? What is it being spent on? And how much of this (in £'s) was allocated to be paid to VCCP for the advertising campaign (this is the most important question)?
The TV advert for the ‘See their Side’ campaign was launched on 17 November, however this campaign was not directly related to National Road Safety Week but it felt a natural moment in time to launch the campaign. It was proposed to run on an ongoing basis.
A total of £995,547.31 was budgeted for the campaign, however actual spend was £765,571.39 as a result of pausing the campaign and switching the media value to another Road Danger Reduction campaign. This spend covers creative production cost, media spend, as well as market research since 2019.
Please note this figure may reduce slightly in future once final costs for areas such as media spend come in. For clarity we have provided details of costs for all original media planned and the actual media costs incurred, reduced following the decision to pause the campaign.
VCCP received £383,119.39. This covered production costs for the TV advertising, photography for the outdoor poster campaign and some market research costs. A large proportion of these costs are passed through to sub-contractors and is not retained by VCCP.
If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
