The BOB campaign in Belgium was the first ever designated driver campaign and became the template for such campaigns across the rest of Europe and the world. It is today a partnership of the Belgian Brewers with the Belgian Road Safety Institute (BIVV/IBSR) and Assuralia, the insurers. The BOB campaign’s main message is to always have a designated driver. It has been replicated in 16 other European countries with support from the European Commission. The campaign has been constantly updated over the years and is well represented on social networks, for example Twitter. It has also evolved from a seasonal campaign to a longer running campaign, not just over the summer and the New Year period but also throughout the year. There are also regular efforts to keep the campaign fresh and impactful. The 2012 Christmas campaign featured the message “3 bises pour BOB” (“3 kisses for BOB”) and was displayed along highways as well as on television. A special “BOB kit” was sent to companies giving helpful tips for the safe return of their employees after a New Year’s reception or company party. In 2014 the campaign built on the new verb “bobber”/”bobben” (“to BOB”), meaning ‘agreeing before you go out who will bring the rest home safely’, with celebrities fronting the campaign and the slogan “Drinking and driving. Not funny!”
During the first BOB campaign, in December 1995, the police performed 100,000 tests. No less than 6.4% of them was positive. In 2019, more than 550,000 drivers were tested. Only 1.8% was positive. Never before have the police checked so many drivers and never before have so few drivers tested positive. The many years of awareness raising and enforcement have clearly had an effect.
Together with Assuralia (Professional Association of Insurance Companies), Vias Institute, Brussels Mobility, the regional governments, VSV (Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde), AWSR (Agence wallonne pour la Sécurité routière) and the local and federal police, we are committed to reducing the number of traffic victims caused by drunk driving. Hence, we continue to work on the same principle: BOB is a person who commits to not drinking alcohol when going out and when driving (designated driver). Belgian Brewers will therefore continue to raise awareness as long as there are drivers who do not understand that drinking alcohol and driving are incompatible.
BOB started as an annual campaign during the end-of-year festivities, but now runs twice a year in winter and summer.
