The Campaign

Compared to drunk-driving, drunk-riding seems irreprehensible. In Japan, however, drunk-riding is a crime. It is considered a violation of Road Traffic Law and is subjected to a fine under 1 million JPY or a less than 5 year sentence. Despite the penalty, people still continue to drink and ride, and this can lead to serious accidents. As a solution to this problem, pro-cycle shop, KOOWHO developed and introduced its World’s First Breathalyzer Bike Lock – ALCOHO-LOCK, which is system that integrates lock and smartphone app. Users need to check their alcohol intake level by breathing into the lock when unlocking their bicycles. When alcohol is detected, a message will appear on the user’s smartphone telling them to push their bikes home. It will also send an alert to the smartphones of pre-registered partners. The device allows the partners to know that their loved ones might drunk-ride and will enable them to stop it. This unique solution which incorporates the power of love to stop drunk-riding buzzed overnight. It also succeeded in raising awareness towards the dangers of drunk-riding outside of Japan. Just a prototype lock, a simple website and a 4-page press release was all we needed.

The Brief

A lot of people are unaware that drink-riding violates the Road Traffic Law. Close to 90% of the Japanese people do not know that this violation is subjected to fines and imprisonment. Our mission was to let as many people know that drunk-riding is illegal and dangerous.

Results

This unique solution which incorporates the power of love to stop drunk-riding buzzed overnight. It also succeeded in raising awareness towards the dangers of drunk-riding outside of Japan. Within a week from release, ALCOHO-LOCK was featured in over 300 media. It was taken up in mass media such as TV Tokyo and was also introduced in news sites such as USA TODAY, WIRED, GIZMODE, Engadget, Mail Online, Yahoo and msn. Articles on the news sites have been shared over 8,000 times and reposted in over 30 different countries. Media impression amounted to 400+ million, 2,500,000 US dollars worth of media exposure. Just a prototype lock, a simple website and a 4-page press release was all we needed.

Execution

What KOOWHO did was to create a totally new product that can arouse the target’s curiosity. We have developed and introduced to the world the World’s First Breathalyzer Bike Lock – ALCOHO-LOCK, which is system that integrates lock and smartphone app. Users need to check their alcohol intake level by breathing into the lock when unlocking their bicycles. When alcohol is detected, a message will appear on the user’s smartphone telling them to push their bikes home. It will also send an alert to the smartphones of pre-registered partners. The device allows the partners to know that their loved ones might drunk-ride and will enable them to stop it.

The Situation

Compared to drunk-driving, drunk-riding seems irreprehensible. In Japan, however, drunk-riding is a crime. It is considered a violation of Road Traffic Law and is subjected to a fine under 1 million JPY or a less than 5 year sentence. Despite the penalty, people still continue to drink and ride, and this can lead to serious accidents.

The Strategy

Majority of drunk-riders are youngsters. Hollering [Don’t Drink & Ride!] is not enough to make them acknowledge that drink-riding is illegal and dangerous. We need to grasp their attention with amusing contents that trend. The point is to engage them by providing a viable solution.