Auckland Transport tackles annual road death toll with launch of road safety campaign via Ogilvy
Auckland Transport has teamed up with Ogilvy to release ’64’, a road safety awareness campaign that draws attention to the significant increase Auckland has seen in its annual road death toll and the associated link between speed with deaths and serious injuries.
The multi-channel campaign, features a special build adshel in downtown Auckland featuring 64 sets of keys, to represent the 64 people who will never drive a car again. This was followed by targeted radio spots, Facebook ads, and bus wraps demonstrating that 64 is an entire busload of people.
The campaign culminated in an eye-opening cinema stunt to highlight the idea of “64 people who will never go to the movies again”. This was done by projecting an unsuspecting audience back at themselves on the cinema screen; key road safety statistics then appeared in tandem with targeted lighting, singling out 64 people in the audience who then unitedly stood in silence, before exiting the cinema.
Every week, at least one person dies on Auckland roads. Since 2014, there has been a 70% increase in people being injured or dying, as a result of speeding in Auckland.
This reached its peak in 2017, with 64 road deaths across the year in Auckland alone. A staggering number for any one city or town in New Zealand to have.
“The idea came from the insight that, sadly, when you hear about one person dying on Auckland roads, you don’t realise how big of a problem it is. But if all those people died on the same day, it would be recognised as a national disaster”, says Regan Grafton, Ogilvy Chief Creative Officer.
“To put that into perspective, when one person gets up and leaves the theatre, you don’t bat an eyelid, but when 64 people do, you really pay attention.”
Adds Mark Sharman, Auckland Transport, Marketing Services Manager: “Many drivers have become desensitised to gruesome ads. Scaremongering and reprimanding doesn’t work, so we needed a fresh way to get people to slow down. Ogilvy approached this brief with a unique proposition that has been highly effective and seamlessly executed.”
Chief Creative Officer: Regan Grafton
Executive Creative Directors: Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonothan McMahon
Creatives: Cece Chu and Rupert Hancock
Group Account Director: Maggie Antone
Account Director: Chris Hotchin
Producer: Victoria Millan
Head of Post: Martin Spencer
Sound Engineer: Keegan Meiring
Media: Helen Breckon
5 Comments
if only it was 69 instead… :/
This will reach about 64 people.
I’ll reinterpret this: The film is a scam done for award show purposes only. We’ve all done it. And it fools not a single soul in advertising. Any defence from Ogilvy is purely damage control.
The rest of the campaign is pants is is where the agency didn’t put its own money into it.
It’s hilarious to think that this idea could’ve come out 25 years ago.
feels like a lesser version of that campaign in Oz which was a museum of the holiday gifts that never made it home to represent the drivers killed on roads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdw6UWZ2nBg