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Michelin leverages YouTube to teach young drivers about tire safety


The campaign, held in conjunction with National Teen Driver Safety Week, adds a new video by Vine stars Jack and Jack to Michelin?s Beyond the Driving Test YouTube series. It is an example of how mobile can be harnessed to draw public attention to an important social cause.

?Michelin has been committed to road safety and sustainable mobility for 125 years,? said Stephanie Tarbet, public relations, Michelin North America. ?We know that automobile accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers in the U.S. and that is an alarming statistic. 

?What's more is that each year nearly 300,000 accidents occur among new drivers due to tire-related issues such as insufficient tire pressure or tire tread. ?Therefore, Michelin dug deeper into this issue to find that teens today are not being properly educated about the importance of tire safety and the simple steps ? such as how to check tire pressure and tread depth ?that can save their lives,? she said. 

?Michelin wants to change that and that's why we've launched our Beyond the Driving Test campaign to educate teens, parents and other influencers about the importance of tire safety.? 

Using humor 
The series uses humor to raise awareness of tire maintenance and safety among new drivers. Launched in partnership with the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, the Beyond the Driving Test campaign aims to help address the role that inexperienced drivers and tire-related problems can play in the 2.2 million vehicle accidents taking place annually in the United States. 

Learning about tire care with teen-aged teachers.

?It's essential that going forward, teens understand the importance of tire safety and the critical role tires play in their safety on the road,? Ms. Tarbet said. 

?As part of our teen-to-teen outreach, we have engaged four teen YouTube influencers who can help spread this message and educate their peers. The teens have done an excellent job of making this important topic relevant for their audiences. 

?Leveraging YouTube also allows us to reach more teens with this message in a more timely, efficient and effective manner,? she said.

Through this campaign and YouTube series, teens will learn how to check their tire pressure and tread depth and why it's important to do so on a monthly basis. 

Teens also will receive Michelin?s Glove Box Guide they can download and keep handy in their car that details preventive vehicle maintenance. 

Michelin is also working nationwide through its "50 by 2020" campaign to ask all states to include its tire-safety information in their driver's education curriculum and handbooks by 2020. 

Right steps
Michelin is taking the right steps by providing young drivers with fun, cool and informative content about checking their tires, combined with why it is important to check them. 

Aiming cool, informative content at teen drivers.

?The use of teens their own age is brilliant and should grab their attention,? said Bruce J. Hershey II, vice president, mobile strategy, with Chicago-based Vibes. 

?As we as marketers continue to see, video content among this audience is one of the most actively ended channels/media.  

?Mobile should fit really well with the target audience,? he said. ?However, if they used SMS and MMS to have an ongoing relationship with these teens they would get a much larger audience and get the new updated content in the hands of the teens as it is produced.? 

Final Take
Michael Barris is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York.