The Campaign

As an advocate of outdoor active play, Johnson’s created the Street View Monsters: a campaign to raise awareness for safer play streets. Our goal: to build a playstreet map on Google, with the help of parents and kids. First we gathered data, through an on-ground event where we built a playground on a blocked off street in the city. We also seeded content and released articles about the effort to get more addresses online. We received hundreds of sign-ups and verified playstreets were mapped out. We designed 12 monster characters and added them on Google Maps. When used on Google Street View, users could also interact with them. The map design was aimed to educate children and parents on ways to help keep streets safer for play. The map also serves as a guide for GPS app makers, local officials, and drivers to be more aware of city playstreets.

Execution

We built the Playstreet Map with parents and kids through online and on-ground sign up efforts. Using the data provided, we designed a map on Google of verified playstreets around the city. We then designed 12 unique monsters, inspired by kids’ drawings, and added them to the playstreet on the map. We enhanced the experience on Google Street View, by allowing users to interact with the monsters. Users also had the option to download the monsters on their Google Maps mobile app, to help them navigate safely when driving around play streets. Using traffic data, we looked for the busiest playstreets and painted 3D safety murals on them. We also seeded online content to educate the public on the importance of keeping streets safe for kids. Finally, we shared our data with GPS app makers and local officials, urging them to take action in keeping our streets safe for play.

- 12 interactive monsters designed - Contributed to brand’s sales growth of 21% - 301% ROI in PR Value - 6x more responses than average - 164 Million media impressions

The Situation

Manila has the worst traffic in the Philippines. In recent years, GPS apps have encouraged more vehicles to access sidestreets to reach their destination. However, these highly residential side streets are not prepared for the sudden volume of traffic. There are inadequate streets signs and alerts in place to warn cars to slow down for children playing on the street. This has resulted in an increase of 35,000 Filipino children becoming victims of road accidents every year. While this statistic is steadily increasing, there is little awareness or action taken to make Manila’s streets safer for play.

The Strategy

In the Philippines, the street is our playground. That’s because our country has few public parks due to poor urban planning. While most kids have grown up safely playing on the streets, it is now a hazard due to GPS apps diverting millions of cars to side streets where children play given the high traffic on the main roads. The sudden influx of traffic and inadequate slow down signs and alerts, have resulted in over 35,000 Filipino children becoming victims of road accidents every year. Johnson’s wants to promote outdoor play as part of nurturing healthy child development. It also provides products like soap and powder that keep children fresh when active. The brand has always been a strong advocate of outdoor play for many years. So to welcome the summer, the brand launched a campaign that would help make playstreets safe again.