Since 2016, Brogan & Partners has been helping the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) communicate safety messages to Michigan drivers. And often we’re tasked with delivering a message they’ve heard countless times before: Don’t drink and drive. The challenge is to deliver it in a new way, one that gets people to put down the glass or give up their keys.
Brogan has faced this challenge for both drivers and motorcyclists, using both new technologies and heartfelt emotion.
Find the Drunk Driver: Looking at an old problem with a new lens.
Decades of public service announcements have warned drivers of the dangers of drinking and driving. We knew we’d have to find a unique and engaging way to connect with drivers to keep them from tuning out one more PSA.
We turned to 360º video. While not an entirely new technology, it hadn’t been used much for advertising messages. Whether viewed through virtual reality goggles or online, 360º video gives the viewer the opportunity to navigate and fully explore the scene from all angles and feel like they’re a part of the story. We decided to use this technology to tell the story of one night at a bar, asking the viewers to solve a mystery: Which of these bar patrons would later drive under the influence — and cause the death of an innocent motorist?
Is it the group of bachelorettes celebrating a bride-to-be? The businessman at the bar? In addition to asking viewers to solve the mystery, the video also encouraged them to make a 360º plan for their next evening out: How would they get there? How would they get home? Who would come along? Who could be a designated driver?
The “Find the Drunk Driver” video was supported by a :30 TV spot, shot at the same bar, which set up the mystery and directed viewers to the 360º video to participate.
Other supporting media included digital ads and social posts.
By finding a new way to look at drunk driving, we got drivers to pay attention. In just one year, the campaign generated more than 33 million impressions and 81,000 video views.
Fallen Brothers: Calling on the brotherhood of bikers to save lives.
Statistics show that motorcyclists involved in fatal crashes are more likely to be impaired by alcohol or drugs than any other type of motor vehicle driver. But we knew we couldn’t take the same approach to reach bikers that we did with drivers. Qualitative research told us that bikers don’t view riding as merely a mode of transportation. It’s a way of life. And the bikers they ride with become family.
This knowledge steered us away from messages about the bikers’ own safety, and instead placed our focus on their lost brothers. We created a TV spot that shows a large group of bikers seemingly out for a pleasant ride together … until the camera reveals that it’s a funeral procession, on their way to honor a fallen brother. The message: the best way to honor their memory is to ride sober.
The spot featured real bikers, not actors, many of whom knew other bikers who had lost their lives or been injured in crashes. This gave the spot an authenticity that hit home with our audience. After just two months of media, half of the bikers we surveyed were already familiar with the message from the TV spot or its accompanying billboard.
Today, Brogan continues to help OHSP protect drivers and riders on Michigan roads, with messages on the dangers of distracted driving, teen driving safety, the importance of seat belt use, and many other critical topics.
To see more of our best work, visit our original post in this series: Celebrating 40 years of creative advertising.
