Honda and Dentsu Thailand have launched the Honda ‘Inner Cap’, a road safety campaign in Bangkok targeting motorcycle taxi passengers rather than riders. According to the campaign, approximately 150,000 motorcycle taxi drivers move millions of people through Thai cities every day, while 96.8% of passenger fatalities on motorcycles occur without a helmet.
Research conducted during the campaign’s planning phase — an online survey of 100 people and in-depth interviews with 20 respondents — found that passengers’ reluctance to wear helmets was driven less by inconvenience than by the hygiene of sharing a helmet passed between dozens of strangers each day.
The Inner Cap is a hygienic liner worn beneath the helmet. Complimentary Inner Caps are being distributed at motorcycle taxi hubs around Bangkok, where passengers decide whether to wear a helmet before boarding.
“Road safety can only happen when there is a helmet on a head, and what we have learnt is that people do not make unsafe choices because they do not care, but rather that the safe choice has a barrier in the way,” said Suphot Phonphongkhachon, General Manager, Traffic Safety Promotion Function, Thai Honda Co., Ltd.
“And our commitment at Honda is to engineer better decisions for behaviour change on the roads. Dentsu Thailand helped us see the human sitting behind it because they went on the ground with passengers and listened to real concerns. The Inner Cap is what happens when we take road safety at the level of a single human decision, made in thirty seconds of the daily realities of how people actually move through Bangkok.”
“On almost every motorcycle taxi ride happening in Bangkok every day, a helmet sits on the handlebars unused,” said Subun Khow, Chief Creative Officer, dentsu Thailand.
“For this campaign, we sought to understand every person in the journey, by sitting with passengers, at stands, in traffic, and uncovering the completely rational objection to putting a shared helmet on their head that nobody had ever taken seriously enough to do anything about it.”
Credits
Thai Honda
Suphot Phonphongkhachon: Traffic Safety Strategic Management
Ekkasit Najaitruek: Traffic Safety Strategic Management
Anusara Sawangchange: Traffic Safety Strategic Section Manager
Chanon Bualuay: CSR Section Manager
Tasamol Nitipannarak: Marketing Communication Division
Dentsu Thailand
Subun Khow: Chief Creative Officer
Natha Taechaparipat: Creative Director
Kanisa Subjaroen: Creative Group Head
Nassara Laowma: Art Director
Nichamon Amatayakul: Associate Brand Activation Director
Pakpoom Jirasarpanant: Brand Activation Manager
Monthicha Darawankul: Graphic Design Supervisor
Siwawat Premyanyong: Producer
Siriya Jaiboon: Senior Social and Content Lead
Pimnichakan Wantanavinij: Social & Content Lead
Taweewat Pornrattanapitak: Content Creation Specialist
Vudhichai Helviphat: Senior Content Creation Specialist
Naparat Sirirat: Senior Traffic Controller
Warayut Chacham: Digital Graphic Designer
Namfar Tienudom: Account Director
Kamonphan Bunruengrat: Account Manager
Chawin Suntivacharanurak: Account Executive
