more than a cyclist Illwarra
In May 2022 we were approached by an Australian charity, Healthy Cities Illawarra now known as Healthy Cities Australia. They had been exposed to the campaign and felt the message of humanising people who ride bikes aligned with their ethos and goals; to support cycling as an active transport and improve road safety for all road users. Australian cities do not have a culture of accepting cyclists on the road which causes conflict, danger and misunderstanding between road users; a lack of awareness of the rights of people to ride on the road, driver responsibilities to pass at a safe distance and general low levels of road rule knowledge. Furthermore, active travel in Australia has steadily declined since the 1970s, now ranking it amongst the lowest in all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
The UCI Road World Championships brought a lot of attention and conversation about cycling to Wollongong. Healthy Cities felt that the More Than A Cyclist campaign contained a strong visual and positive message that would help them capitalise on this increased awareness. Driving the legacy that such an eminent international event can have on communities – improved infrastructure for recreational cycling, as well as around their communities neighbourhoods.
“Great postive quote in here from someone at healthy Cities talking about the partnership and why they wanted to partner with us”
- Jane Doe, Healthy Cities Australia
They developed a comprehensive ambient and digital campaign using the More Than A Cyclist “duality imagery” to depict local people who ride bikes as ‘More than a Cyclist’. This included a web presence and social media engagement, billboard advertising, back of bus advertising, posters and television commercials. They were keen to address misconceptions and promote the diversity of bicycle users.
2022/23 Campaign
Waves 1-3
Campaign research
Healthy Cities commissioned market research to measure the campaign's effectiveness in the local area. While it is clearly very difficult to attribute causation as there are many factors at play, the results do show an encouraging trend regarding attitudes towards cyclists and the saliency of the campaign.
The research was conducted over 3 waves of the campaign between September 2022 and September 2023.
The survey took approximately 5 minutes to complete. Links to the survey were distributed via the email networks of Healthy Cities Illawarra, as well as via social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter).
Wave 1 (n=487): Sept 5-16, 2022
Wave 2 (n=485): Jan 19 – Feb 20, 2023
Wave 3 (n=370): Aug 28 – Sept 11, 2023
Margin of Error for n=370: + 5.1%, at the 95% confidence interval for an endorsement level of 50%
2024/25 Campaign
Wave 4
In June 2025 MTAC Illawara ran a radio campaign on i98FM, reaching almost half a million listeners in their community.
Healthy Cities Australia are a health promotion charity that has worked to reduce the prevalence of disease and prevent hospitalisations by improving health and wellbeing outcomes, since 1987. They address social, economic and environmental causes of health inequality through advocacy, partnership and evidence-based programs.
