Selfie Speeding Sign
Stad Antwerpen
Issue 33 | December 2014
Agency
Duval Guillaume
Creative Team
Creative Director Katrien Bottez Geoffrey Hantson Copywriter Olaf Meuleman Art Director Ad Van Ongeval
Production Team
Account Team Jet Vervenne Veroniek Debbaut Interactive Design Nick Gorrebeeck Lode Vochten
Other Credits
Billboard Production Q-Lite
Date
August 2014
Background
The city of Antwerp and the Local Police Department wanted a campaign to remind people about the importance of safe and slow driving in the city.
The insight was that everyone wanted careful drivers when they were driving in their own streets.
The campaign brief was to invite local residents to call out to drivers, asking them to drive more slowly.
The Selfie Speeding Sign was part of that campaign.
Idea
Belgium was already getting used to technology in their road signs with some areas using speeding signs with smileys. A happy smiley was displayed when drivers stayed within the speed limit, an unhappy one when they were speeding.
The idea was to use selfies rather than smileys. The people of Antwerp were invited to upload two photos of themselves: one with a happy face and one with a disapproving glare.
These selfies were then shown to motorists on interactive billboards, which were equipped with speed detectors. The speeding signs only showed photos of people who lived in that specific neighbourhood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05H7MxIDQW8
Results
After only a few days, hundreds of selfies had been uploaded and displayed to tens of thousands of motorists to stop them from speeding. There was much local and national media attention and even international media like BBC News and Trendhunter.com picked up the story.
Our Thoughts
If you wanted to know just how much the typical ad agency has changed in the last ten years, this is as good a demonstration of it as any. Is the modern agency in the business of storytelling? Or of data? Technology or ideas? Is it supposed to create messages or interventions? Duval Guillaume seems to be one of a very small handful of agencies able to say yes to all those questions.
The guys who created those famous old VW ads (see John O’Driscoll’s article on pages 10-15) would have been able to get people to consider slowing down. Today’s creatives can get drivers to actually do it. So, while we have great respect for the legendary writers and art directors of DDB in the 1960s, maybe Geoffrey Hantson and Kattrien Bottez are legends in the making.