As AXA is the world’s biggest insurance company, dedicated to redefine standards for better everyday life, AXA decided to get the cyclist attention on the safety issues by upgrading the only safety feature bicycle have: the bike bell. That’s when the smart bell idea was born. The Smart Bell is a new type of bicycle bell, that along with the normal bike bell sound, use FM frequencies to transmit the signal through the car radios within the radius of 5 meters. Smart Bell disrupts radio signal to transmit bell sound through the car’s speakers. The smart bell uses RDS Traffic Announcement protocol to transmit the bell signal even if MP3, CD or AUX is on. Smart Bell uses the same power as MP3 transmitters, to assure conformity with the EU laws.

The smart bell together with Smart Bike Insurance was launched at the biggest Polish Bike Show – Warsaw Bike Expo, 21-23th of April, 2017. As the activation was held in Warsaw, smart bell was set to local radio stations covering 82% of car drivers’ audience in the area. Smart bells were handed out to the visitors, targeting the urban cyclist and influencers who visited the Bike Show. On the smartbell.pl website people could subscribe to request their own smart bell, learn about safety standards, and buy Smart Bike insurance. The video documenting the smart bell rides and people reactions were put on-line to further foster the conversation on road safety for cyclists.

Over 1000 cyclist tested the smart bell and AXA had 50 000 new sales contacts during the Bike Show. Smart bell was launched only on 21st April, but already got attention of the urban cyclist to AXA products and safety standards, with request for information coming on average every 25 second in the first 72 hours. For the first time the well-known safety standard was redefined to make drivers hear the cyclist and the cyclist communicate better with the drivers on the shared roads and make a bicycle bell adapted to the real conditions millions of cyclists ride every day. Smart bell got the AXA brand into real conversation with the new desired target group – modern urban commuters.