Manchester’s sexy cycling campaign wins Green Award » Local Government » 24dash.com

An eco-campaign to get Manchester's car commuters to ditch four wheels in favour of two has won first prize at the Green Awards.

The 'Love Your Bike' campaign was created by Manchester ethical communications agency, Creative Concern, for Friends of the Earth and Manchester City Council.

Love Your Bike raised public awareness of cycling to reduce carbon emissions, noise and pollution levels as well as peak time traffic congestion in the city centre.

The award for Best Integrated Campaign under £100,000 was presented to Manchester Friends of the Earth at the Guildhall in London.

A series of suggestive bike-themed images, including a cycle chain and leather bicycle saddle styled into a love heart and a photographic 'Fat Lane Fast Lane' advert were the centrepiece of the outdoor advertising and online communications campaign.

Launched in early Spring across more than 40 city centre billboards and over one hundred bus backs, the campaign went live with a far-reaching postcard drop, featuring the sexy and fun visuals as well as the dedicated website, www.loveyourbike.org

The website, also created by Creative Concern reinforces the message that cycling is not just good for the environment, it is also good for the commuter's health, cash flow, and saves time travelling to and from work.

To keep the campaign at the forefront of city centre workers' minds and to continue to drive traffic to the website, the 19-strong agency also produced a set of risky cycling viral films, showing what happens when a commuter loves his bike a little too much.

The viral films were shown on the dedicated environmental TV channel, Green TV and the campaign received coverage across local, national and trade media.

The creative campaign combined the talents of Creative Concern, Modern Designers and advertising specialists RAP.

Loved-up Creative Concern Managing Director, Chris Dessent, said: "This is fabulous news for the agency and for Manchester as it clearly demonstrates that successfully communicating green issues doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. When we're dealing with serious issues such as global warming or green transport  we understand that audiences react positively to environmental messages when we apply a bit of sex, humour and high-impact visuals. Love Your Bike wasn't targeted at staunch environmentalists or die-hard cyclists, it was for all of Manchester and we're proud to be recognised for appealing to a cross-section of the general public by the Green Awards."