New Zealand Police
Client: New Zealand Police
Product: Road safety
Title: Survive The Drive
Media: Radio takeover
Country: New Zealand
Date Of Campaign: 14 April 2022
Background: Speed is the biggest contributing factor in deaths on New Zealand roads. Our brief was to find a way to connect with drivers, encourage them to reduce their speed, and in turn, lower the death toll. With a big increase of drivers heading away for the holidays, we identified long weekends as a key period to advertise. While traditional safety messages are scattered throughout the country, once you drive past a “slow down” billboard, you forget the message within 3 seconds. So, we needed to find a new way to reach an audience who are blind to our anti-speeding reminders.
Idea: Studies from the London Metropolitan University and South China University of Technology found that music has a big effect on the way we drive. As it turns out, songs at a tempo of 60-80 BPM (beats per minute) keep us more alert, focused and help us slow down behind the wheel. So NZ Police partnered with MediaWorks, New Zealand’s largest media network, to create Survive the Drive. A nationwide radio takeover filled with songs that help keep drivers safe. Our non-stop safe-driving tunes played over one of the deadliest weekends for NZ roads, subconsciously changing behaviour on a nationwide scale. Five national radio stations, all with different genres & audiences, selected songs with lower BPM, so drivers would lower their RPM. To expand our reach, we also created Survive the Drive playlists on Spotify. We analysed 150m+ songs, covering multiple genres. Each playlist is filled with songs at the right BPM and are curated based on valence, energy, popularity & other traits. Each playlist begins with low energy, low valence tunes to help increase focus during departure. We then intermittently insert high valence tracks throughout to fight driver fatigue. These could (and can still) be played anywhere, anytime, through the NZ Police Spotify channel.
Results: Massive reach combined with our subconscious driving tool led to massive results. • 1.98 million drivers were reached with Survive the Drive over Easter• The national speeding average was reduced by 6%• High-risk targeted areas saw 75% fewer fatal crashes• Fatal crashes nationwide were reduced by 60% To back the success of the campaign, we correlated traffic cam, Police citations, and crash data. Through this, we found a significant drop in speed across the board. We saw an average speed reduction of 3.8km/h during high travel periods. Research indicates 1% increase in speed produces a 4% increase in the fatal crash risk and a 3% increase in serious crash risk. 3.8km/h may not sound a lot, but that is a 6% reduction in speed. That means we reduced the chances of fatal crash risk by 24% and a reduction in serious crash risk by 18%. Ultimately, the campaign delivered a priceless return on investment - each and every life saved, all through the power of audio.
