A kiwi comedian with a colossal internet following is the face of a novel Eastern Bay Road Safety campaign launched this week.

Coined #Don'tJimiThat, the campaign will feature a series of online videos starring Auckland-based entertainer Jimi Jackson.

Jimi Jackson is fronting the Eastern Bay of Plenty road safety campaign.

With over 345,000 Facebook fans, Jackson is arguably New Zealand's most popular comedian. Best-known for his comical online videos, he is currently enjoying considerable success touring the country delivering a live stand-up comedy act.

It's hoped that Jackson's unique brand of humour, which is particularly popular with younger Kiwis, will have a ‘Trojan horse' effect in stimulating the interest of Eastern Bay motorists aged between 15 and 24 – a challenging audience to engage with road safety messaging.

The campaign is the latest in a series of innovative approaches to communicating with young drivers, and builds upon the momentum of the Can't Rewind Time events that have been delivered throughout the Eastern Bay in recent weeks.

Whakatane District Council community services manager Paula Chapman says the success of Can't Rewind Time highlighted the importance of communicating with young people in a way that is relevant to them.

'The biggest challenge is engagement. If we can get that younger audience to engage, we have a much better chance of them buying-in to the important road safety messages that underpin the campaign.

'While we are using humour to capture the attention of the target audience, the messages within the campaign are certainly no laughing matter. Too many of our young people are dying or being seriously injured on Eastern Bay of Plenty roads and this campaign looks to address that.”

Paula says the online approach will be instrumental in delivering the campaign to the right target audience.

'It's no secret that online social networking sites like Facebook are incredibly popular with the younger age groups, so it makes sense for us to be actively campaigning in the online space.”

The first of the #DontJimiThat campaign videos can be viewed on the Eastern Bay Road Safety programme Facebook page.