Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation

Each year, approximately one Australian child per week is killed in a road incident.

Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation is on a mission to change this tragic statistic, championing pedestrian road safety for children by educating the wider community around how to keep children safe around roads. 

Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation was established in 2014 by Michelle McLaughlin after the death of her 4-year-old son, Tom, in a pedestrian crash on New South Wales’ Central Coast.

Since then, Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation has facilitated the installation of signs in 63 Local Government Areas around Australia, saving hundreds of lives.

The Brief

With road incidents over-represented in the Summer holiday season, this is the most crucial time of year for Little Blue Dinosaur and when it carries out its ‘Holiday Time’ campaign.

Blue Planet PR was engaged to generate widespread publicity to support the 2021 Holiday Time campaign. The goals were three-fold:

  • Raise awareness of Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation and the importance of child pedestrian safety. 
  • Raise the profile of CEO and Founder, Michelle McLaughlin.
  • Drive donations.

The Strategy

To differentiate the 2021 Holiday Time campaign from years prior to attract time-critical media attention, new and unique angles were devised. 

Blue Planet PR did this by drawing attention to the shocking (and relatively unknown by the general public) number of children killed each week in road incidents. This worked to emphasise and situate the important work done by Little Blue Dinosaur. 

Blue Planet PR also used the Holiday Time campaign to drive donations for Little Blue Dinosaur Foundations’ new initiative, Road Trauma Grief Support Packages.

The Result

226 pieces of media coverage (with a reach of 6.3 million) were secured across television, radio, print, online and social media outlets. Of strategic importance, this included: 

  • In-depth profile pieces of Michelle McLaughlin in the leading women’s titles of Mamamia and Women’s Agenda. 
  • Coverage across many outlets that Little Blue Dinosaur had not previously featured in, exposing it to new audiences.
  • Donations to help drive the very important work of the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation. 

Photography credit - Narrative Post

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