A Wee Walk Works Wonders
Encouraging people in Scotland to choose short walks over car journeys
Project Overview
This campaign set out to inspire more people across Scotland to walk instead of drive, especially for short everyday trips. It was a joint initiative backed by leading organisations including Transform Scotland, Smarter Choices Smarter Places, Paths for All, Tactran, Transport Scotland and Living Streets.
The benefits of walking are clear. Better physical health, improved mental wellbeing, lower carbon emissions, and cost savings. Research carried out by JRS highlighted just how significant these benefits are, particularly for mental health.
It also showed that encouraging short walks was more effective than promoting long-distance walking. Small switches from car to foot for short local trips offer a big opportunity for active travel in Scottish communities.
Project Brief
The challenge was to communicate all these benefits through a clear, engaging campaign that would work across outdoor media and digital channels. With multiple partners involved, each with different priorities, the campaign needed to balance messages around public health, climate action, sustainable travel and saving money.
Working as part of Transform Creative, we explored a range of approaches informed by research. We tested different tones, visual styles and motivators to find the best way to inspire behaviour change.
Creative Approach
Early in the concept stage, the phrase A Wee Walk Works Wonders emerged. The alliteration made it catchy, memorable and uniquely Scottish. We wanted to bring the benefits of walking to life visually, so we created a set of colourful characters representing each key outcome.
- The heart symbolised physical health
- The brain represented mental wellbeing
- The earth stood for environmental impact
- The piggy bank illustrated cost savings
This wee family of characters gave us a playful way to show how walking supports your body, mind, wallet and the planet. We gave them a family dynamic, with the heart and brain as parents, the earth as a child, and the piggy bank as the loyal family pet.
From the beginning, we knew the characters needed to be simple, cheerful and easy to recognise. Their charm and warmth added a friendly, human feel to the campaign.
Execution
We collaborated with Edinburgh animation studio 2D Workshop to produce a series of short animated videos. Working from our scripts and storyboards, they created vector artwork that could also be used across posters and social media content.
For the outdoor campaign, we created fun, eye catching visuals of the character family, paired with strong headlines in a bold illustrated style. These appeared on six sheets, bus advertising and public posters across Scotland.
We also produced radio adverts to complete the multi channel campaign, bringing the same warm and upbeat tone to audio.
Impact
This active travel campaign was a huge success, generating national media coverage and political attention, while delivering real impact in local communities.
In Renfrewshire, Moray and Aberdeenshire:
- 1 in 3 people are now walking more and driving less
- 91 percent said the campaign caught their attention
- 86 percent felt more motivated to walk instead of drive for short local journeys
The environmental and financial outcomes are equally impressive:
- £280,000 saved each month by residents on fuel costs
- £3.4 million projected annual savings
- 152 tonnes of carbon saved every month
That carbon saving is enough to power 3,380 homes over the same period.
This is a clear example of how creative communications can drive behaviour change and support climate goals, healthier lifestyles and more sustainable transport choices across Scotland.
This campaign was a finalist in three prestigious awards – The Scottish Charity Awards, The Scottish Transport Awards and the Marketing Society Scotland Star Awards.
Quote or Testimonial
“Andy is a delight to work with. He's full of creative energy, enthusiasm and ideas, which is what you want from a designer. At the same time he's also very professional and hardworking. I can always trust him to get the job done with the minimum of fuss. Andy has a lot of experience of the design industry which gives him a great understanding of how to pull a design project together and give clients what they need. I would definitely recommend him.”
Elspeth Wray, Enterprise Manager
Transform Creative
