The Campaign

Despite having tough drink-driving laws, alcohol-related accidents increased by 8.2% last year. As part of their responsible drinking efforts, Carlsberg wanted a direct way to deter would-be drunk drivers -- without using ineffective traditional mediums that has been proven to be often ineffective. We found an insight: drivers have a false sense of security once they get into their cars, no matter how much they have had to drink. Potential drunk drivers found out one sobering truth: When you’re drunk, so is your car. We targeted potential drunk drivers in car parks near crowded nightlife areas. Using a High-Powered FM Transmitter, we briefly hijacked the signal of popular radio stations and broadcasted special messages directly into their cars. Drivers stopped in disbelief as they heard their cars literally talk to them. An aggressive drunk of a car called the driver "a wimp" for "always following the rules and limits"; a car who was funny when drunk rambled about "how the party has just started"; a flirty lady of a car teased and taunted her driver to "go fast" so she could give him "the ride of his life". The guerilla campaign was a great success, with over 68% of the drivers deciding to take a taxi home, or sobering up before driving. Alcohol-related accidents fell for the first time in 9 months. THIS WAS A GREAT PR STORY -- FOR THE FIRST TIME, CARS ACTUALLY TALKED TO THEIR DRIVERS, AND THEY DID SO WHILE THEY WERE "DRUNK", COMPLETE WITH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TYPICAL DRUNK PERSON.

The Brief

As part of their responsible drinking efforts, Carlsberg wanted a direct way to deter would-be drunk drivers. Research on alcohol consumers, and beer drinkers in particular, have shown that the target audience no longer responds to traditional messages of drink-driving. Almost 1 in 3 male drinker has admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol, with the fallacy that they will somehow reach home safely.

Results

The guerilla campaign was a great success, with over 68% of the drivers deciding to take a taxi home, or sobering up before driving. Alcohol-related accidents fell for the first time in 9 months. Brand awareness scores for Carlsberg's CSR efforts rose markedly and the social media was abuzz with the campaign. The best result? Motorists now know they are too drunk to drive when their cars start talking to them.

Execution

Potential drunk drivers found out one sobering truth: When you’re drunk, so is your car. We targeted potential drunk drivers in car parks near crowded nightlife areas. Using a High-Powered FM Transmitter, we briefly hijacked the signal of popular radio stations and broadcasted special messages directly into their cars. Drivers stopped in disbelief as they heard their cars literally talk to them, and to top it all off, talk to them in a similarly drunken stupor. An aggressive drunk of a car called the driver "a wimp" for "always following the rules and limits"; a car who was funny when drunk rambled about "how the party has just started"; a flirty lady of a car teased and taunted her driver to "go fast" so she could give him "the ride of his life".

The Situation

Despite having tough drink-driving laws, alcohol-related accidents increased by 8.2% last year. As part of their responsible drinking efforts, Carlsberg wanted a direct way to deter would-be drunk drivers -- without using ineffective traditional mediums that has been proven to be often ineffective. The truth is strikingly worrying -- beer drinkers are already immune to traditional ways of communicating the dangers of drink-driving.

The Strategy

We found an insight: drivers have a false sense of security once they get into their cars, no matter how much they have had to drink. This insight is particularly important in decoding the mindset of the drunk driver, at the critical point of deciding to operate the vehicle that could well endanger himself and others.