Fantastic has worked in partnership with Bedfords Transport for a number of years and when the logistics company decided a few months ago that it wanted to work on a corporate responsibility programme, Fantastic developed and implemented a strategy to launch a road safety initiative.

Ten children and young people in the UK are killed or seriously injured in road accidents every day. Fantastic felt that this was a key issue for Bedfords to address and that it would be the ideal area to focus on in terms of CSR.

As a result, this week has seen the launch of a new road safety scheme which uses an animated character, Beddy, to educate children about the dangers of the road.

Fantastic's Senior Creative Designer has created cartoon characters based around Bedfords trucks and forklifts, with Beddy being the main focus. An eye catching, interactive website was also designed and built which provides a range of downloadable lesson plans/group activities for parents and teachers. There is also school visit programme where the children can have a look around the inside and outside of a truck to understand the dangers a large vehicle poses in a real life situation.

To strengthen the campaign, Fantastic sought and gained the backing of national road safety charity, Brake, who endorsed the initiative as a powerful means of getting the message across.

The Beddy website and initiative will be promoted to 3 key audiences: parents, children (5-7) and teachers, through a structured PR and marketing campaign.

Through the national launch, regional press coverage, teaching publications and parent publications both on and offline, each of the three target audiences will be addressed. The marketing collateral to further raise awareness and drive traffic to the Beddy website will include posters, newsletters and partnerships with relevant government bodies.

www.beddy.co.uk