Aftermath
Department for Transport
Issue 42 | March 2017
Agency
AMV BBDO London
Creative Team
Creative Directors Steve Jones Martin Lorraine Copywriter Zac Ellis Art Director Rich Litter
Production Team
Agency Producer Kirstie Johnstone
Other Credits
Account Team Tamara Klemich Anna Covell Phil Le Brun
Date
November 2016
Background
Driving on country roads in the UK was regarded by drivers as harmless and 'fun', despite the fact 60% of road traffic fatalities happen on them.
To reduce the number of accidents, the challenge was to change this perception and make people drive slower on these minor roads.
'Brake before the bend' was a campaign that had started to shift perceptions but too many people still ignored the warnings.
Idea
The challenge was to find a way to make people pay attention to a boring road safety message but make it memorable enough to be recalled at the point of driving.
Facebook 360 had launched earlier in the year.
People weren't used to seeing images that they could explore in 360 so there was a high level of interest in images with this functionality.
It provided a format where their view of a typical country road could literally be subverted.
The view of the driver of a crashed car was shot in 360 and recreated for a Facebook 360 image.
Unsuspecting browsers were served a beautiful vista of English countryside and a post that read 'The countryside can take your breath away'.
When the viewer moved their phone (or mouse if on a desktop) they saw the scene was, in fact, the aftermath of a dramatic country road crash.
Spinning around in 360 in full revealed the message: On average 3 people die on country roads every day. Break before the bend, not on it.
Results
Too early for results from driving behaviour measurement but high levels of interaction:
Significantly higher click through rate than industry norm (3.04% against a static benchmark of 1%) and significantly higher engagement rate (2.83% against a static benchmark of 1%).
Our Thoughts
We live in a time of unprecedented innovation. Technology is changing what we do, how we do it and where we do it. If you can’t innovate yourself then the next best way to get additional traction for your idea is to be the first to adopt a new technology. That’s what’s the agency has done here, looked at a new Facebook offering and been swift to put it to good use. It’s easy to mock creatives when they set out to do a ‘world’s first’ or a ‘never been done before’. But 360 images and video will soon be a norm. Until then, if you can get better CTRs simply by doing something cool then I’m all for it. In this case, if it helps save just one life it will have been worth it.