Showcase campaign from the public order office: chocolate instead of tickets

Fines for illegal parking – anyone can do that! That’s probably what the city of Giengen an der Brenz in the east of Baden-Württemberg thought. Thought, done. The result is a nice Christmas campaign that should bring a smile to many drivers’ faces. The public order office now rewards those who park correctly.

“We want to show people during Advent that our security service also lets five be straight and six bent,” said the mayor of the city of 20,000, Dieter Henle, commenting on the campaign. However, he doesn’t know whether people’s parking behavior will change as a result of the campaign. Statistics on this would also be difficult. But Henle says: “The feedback is very positive.” And at least it casts a completely different look at the employees in the public order office, who otherwise often get dirty looks.

The traffic ticket campaign is not entirely new

The city on the border with Bavaria already carried out the campaign in 2018. Then Corona came and it was suspended accordingly. So this year it’s a repeat. The campaign runs for a week. The public order office employees will distribute around 1,000 praise balls during this time. By the way, the mayor donates the chocolate chips privately.

However: This week the security staff are not only “armed” with chocolate but also with normal tickets. So if you park incorrectly, you still have to expect a ticket.

Creative marketing campaign with traffic tickets

In recent years, other cities have also drawn attention to themselves with similar campaigns and the distribution of sweets. There was also a special ticket campaign in Georgsmarienhütte, a medium-sized town near Osnabrück. Because many people shop in Osnabrück due to its proximity, the city has distributed deceptively real-looking parking tickets on the windshields of parked cars in downtown Osnabrück. But upon closer inspection, the Parkers could breathe a sigh of relief. The flyer turned out to be a “friendly tip” from the neighbors from Georgsmarienhütte, who used this flyer to advertise the over 1,000 free parking spaces in the Oese shopping mile.