The Campaign

We created No Po Po - an unconventional no-honking program that rewards drivers for not honking! We created a device that records the number of times you honk along with a mobile app that helped users monitor their honking behaviour. The idea was to make people look at the their honking behaviour in real time, so that the action can too be taken in real time. The deal was simple – the lesser you honk, the more rewards you earn!

Creative Execution

The device was fitted in Maruti Suzuki cars across New Delhi. The device captured the horn count and the data received was then sent to the user’s mobile through an app. The user could track his horn count and set personal honking targets. The campaign was launched on 12 December 2015 and ran for 3 months. The users were educated about the initiative at the Maruti Suzuki authorised service stations where the device was fitted and rewards were given to the people with lowest horn count at the end of the campaign period.

Results

The results were music to our ears! In just 3 months, a drastic 43% drop was registered in the honking patterns of the No Po Po users. The decibel levels plunged like never before. In the working, is the plan to pre-fit No Po Po in all Maruti Suzuki cars in the future. More than anything, we were able to give out a message that was loud and clear. No more PO PO or No More Honking!

In India, incessant vehicular honking is one of the biggest contributors of noise pollution. No Po Po encourages Indian drivers to honk as less as possible and thus, help in decreasing noise pollution by rewarding them instead of penalising them like the conventional no-honking programs. No Po Po uses a device and an app that gives real-time count of a user's honking directly affecting the user's behaviour in real-time.

Honking is a universal problem. But when we researched about the problem in India, some startling facts popped up. 75% of traffic police in southern India have suffered permanent hearing damage. Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are some of the world’s noisiest cities. All thanks to the constant & inconsiderate honking around us 365 days of the year. The Target Group of the campaign was car drivers in Metros aged 18 and above. We realized that moral talk, signs or fines haven’t really changed people’s behavior. And it was time that the problem was looked from a fresh perspective. We thought why not reward people for honking less? It was that simple! Hence, was born No Po Po. Rationale behind the name: “Po Po” is not just the sonic representation of honking; it is a part of common parlance in India to describe honking.