The Brief

In this campaign, we set out to engineer safer Volkswagen drivers. The Reduce Speed Dial is an intimate and personalised, direct message presented to a loved one at the critical moment they consider speeding – while driving their Volkswagen. So far, it has demonstrated powerful results. Everyone who has been presented the message, has changed their behaviour.

Creative Execution

The Volkswagen Reduce Speed Dial is a replacement panel for the speedometer in Volkswagens. It follows all of the clarity and safety restrictions of a standard speedometer, but the dial is personally hand written for the driver, by a loved one. This direct, personal mnemonic reminds drivers what they have to live for at the exact moment they consider speeding.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We recruited four families who were current Volkswagen owners. Already familiar with the brand and the experience of driving the vehicles, we set about understanding whether we could in fact engineer a change in their driving behaviour with a simple direct mechanic. We monitored their driving behaviour for a period and without warning, made a simple change to their speedometer to understand if their child’s direct communication with them would elicit a response.

Results

Following the installation of the Reduce Speed Dial, all of the families involved reduced their speed in multiple driving situations. Some examples are below: - One family had no recorded speed infringements after the installation of the personalised speed dial - One family reduced their top speed by 19kmh from a max of 123km to a max of 104km - Half of the drivers’ maximum speeds reduced after fitting their personalised speed dial - Three out of the four drivers reduced their incidence of speeding in 100km zones by 50%.