The R plate created its own media ecosystem to deliver a message of mental health on the road.

Earned raised the unseen issue and gave us a platform to unpack the idea, while films targeted those who hadn't experienced trauma themselves - demonstrating how widespread the problem was. Social encouraged conversation with those with firsthand experience. Drive time radio was a reminder to consider other drivers' mental health, and the R plate itself acted as out-of-home where it mattered, on the road.

Conversations about mental health were happening everywhere, but as a nation we were ignoring a huge section of society suffering from mental health issues arising from incidents on the road.

This was happening in part because the physical injuries were more obvious, leading to the psychological impact being deprioritised by health care professionals. Only 16% of those impacted by a road incident would seek psychological help.

As one of Australia's leading Auto providers, mycar Tyre & Auto knew few other Automotive companies had considered the impact of trauma on road users, their brand platform ‘people first’ perfectly positioned them to be the first to talk about mental health on the road.

mycar’s objective was to put their brand platform in action, by creating a brand campaign that put ‘people first’ into practice by supporting the millions of Austrlaians impacted by mental health issues on our roads.

In Australia when you’re learning to drive you place ‘L’ (for learner) Plate on your car - what if we could create a plate for drivers returning after trauma?

R (Return) plates - a plate to recognise drivers returning to the road.

For the first time, drivers could show others what was going on inside.

The R plate achieves two things simultaneously; pointing out a problem that had been otherwise ignored in society and encouraging those who had suffered to seek help to overcome their trauma.

The physical plate communicates the issue in real time where it matters, on the road. Each plate has a QR code, connecting drivers with psychological support wherever they need it.

The campaign ecosystem targeted different mindsets to break down barriers about road trauma to change driver behaviour.

We knew it wasn’t enough to explain the concept of a new Plate, we had a job to do to convince people that the trauma was widespread and then to normalise the use of the plates.

We had two audiences - those suffering in silence, and those lucky enough to have not experienced trauma on the road, blind to the difficulties people were facing as they returned to driving.

Earned raised the unseen issue and gave us a platform to unpack the idea - fueling conversation across national broadcast networks.

Paid online and digital films targeted those who hadn't experienced trauma themselves and demonstrated how widespread the problem really was. Paid social media encouraged conversation with those who had experienced road trauma firsthand, while drive-time radio served as a reminder.

The plate itself was also media - raising awareness of the issue and encouraging behaviour change where it really mattered - on the road.

The PR launch was supported with emotional film showing how it feels to return to the road, while long-form films of real stories allowed people to deeply engage with an individual’s experiences.

Paid social and digital media created conversations that bleed back into Broadcast media.

All assets led to the mycar website - where people could learn more about the psychological impact of road trauma, explore real stories, download their own plate and seek professional help.

QR codes on the plate connected drivers to psychological support services, while the physical plate itself communicates the issue in real time where it matters, on the road.

The R plate didn’t just create a cultural moment for the mycar brand, it asked people to consider their attitudes and behaviours to other road users and encouraged empathy for those returning to the road, ultimately demonstrating ‘People first’ in a very real way.

522 pieces of coverage with a reach of 239 million, effectively hitting every person in Australia nine times.

Earned and social sparked a national conversation - on TikTok alone, dozens of UGC posts attracted nearly 5 million views with a 10.9% engagement rate.

mycar website traffic was up 56%, and R Plates available for order ran out in the first 48 hours.

Australia's leading insurer and leading car sales platforms have shown support, and following the initial launch, we have engaged leaders across the industry to publicly support R Plates.

In addition, 26% of Australians say that the R Plate would have helped them as they returned to the road after an incident.

R Plates created a cultural moment for mycar, demonstrating ‘people first’ in a very real way, and it shone the light on a societal problem that’s seldom spoken about and goes largely unseen.

Despite mental health and trauma being hot button topics, society was not acknowledging psychological trauma arising from incidents on the road.

Other automotive companies hadn’t considered the impact of psychological trauma on road users, which left mycar Tyre & Auto with their brand purpose ‘People first’ perfectly positioned to be the first to talk about it.

So we created R plates (Return Plates) - a physical plate to recognise drivers returning to the road after trauma. R Plates were available to order on our website; drivers simply placed the plate on the back window of their car. Each plate has a QR code which links to local psychological support.

mycar was able to demonstrate ‘People first’ in a way that genuinely benefited road users, asking people to consider their behaviour toward other road users and encouraging empathy for those returning to the road, ultimately changing a nation’s driving experience for

In Australia when you’re learning to drive you place ‘L’ (for learner) Plates on the back window of your car to show other drivers that you’re new to the road. The intention is that the plates help build confidence and encourage other drivers to treat them with more patience and empathy.

We created R plates (Return Plates) - a plate to recognise drivers returning to the road.

Drivers placed the plate on the back window of their car, so for the first time, those returning to the road after a traumatic incident could show others what was going on inside.

The R plate achieves two things simultaneously; pointing out a problem that had been otherwise ignored in society and encouraging those who had suffered in the past to come to terms with their trauma and seek help to overcome it.