Clemenger BBDO Wellington

Client: NZ Transport Agency
Product: Road Safety
Title: Liberated Drivers
Media: Film
Country: New Zealand
Date Of Campaign: 28-06-19

Background: Distracted driving contributes to 30% of New Zealand’s crashes. Driving with phones is becoming an increasingly acceptable choice, encouraged by hands free operation and legitimate in-vehicle uses for devices, eg wayfinding and parking apps. The law is struggling to keep pace, and using safety as a threat had become ineffective.To discourage this growing distraction, we needed a new way in.

Idea: Instead of framing distracted driving as a safety issue, we framed it as a phone use issue. The majority of people are seeking time apart from their phones, so we gave them new way to think about their in-car phone use. The car was offered up as a sweet escape – a subtle flip that turns the car interior into a tool for phone resistance. A place where, for once, the car is the distraction.

Results: The film is running on Facebook and Instagram, the channels that most emphasise our dependant and mindless relationships with our phones.Completed views – 2.62M (approx.)Impressions – 4.76M (approx.)The film also ran in cinema, a place designated to being free of phones, to leverage the positive feelings associated with switching off.