LIVING MEMORIES

Gold Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleLIVING MEMORIES
BrandBRAKE
Product / ServiceROAD SAFETY
CategoryB04. Charities, Public Health, Safety & Awareness Messages
EntrantY&R NZ Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Entrant Company Y&R NZ Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Advertising Agency Y&R NZ Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Production Company WETA DIGITAL Wellington, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Josh Moore Y&R New Zealand CEO & CCO New Zealand
Scott Henderson Y&R New Zealand Creative Director
Seymour Pope Y&R New Zealand Creative Director
Lisa Dupre Y&R New Zealand Senior Art Director
Tim Ellis Y&R New Zealand Managing Director
Claire Dooney Y&R New Zealand Account Director
Christina Hazard Y&R New Zealand Head Of Production
Grant Maxwell Y&R New Zealand General Manager - Media
James Wendelborn Y&R New Zealand Retouching
Kate Whitley Y&R New Zealand Studio Artist
Kylee Davidson-Corrin Y&R New Zealand Senior Media Planner
Bruce Murray Y&R New Zealand Executive Digital Producer
Michael Frogley Y&R New Zealand Head of Motion Graphics
Jason Wells Y&R New Zealand Ideas Director
Pat Ko Y&R New Zealand Digital Producer
Kevin Darch Independent Forensic Artist
Weta Digital Weta Digital Digital Production Company
Squid Kelly Independent Post Production
William Moore Independent DOP

The Campaign

Brake is a charity that educates drivers and supports victims of road tragedy. While established in the UK, it’s relatively new to New Zealand. In the lead up to National Road Safety Week, we had two objectives: Firstly, to generate significant awareness for the charity during National Road Safety Week without significant amounts of paid media. And secondly, to get drivers to realise the potential lifelong cost of their decisions on the road. With a modest marketing budget, PR and the earned media it could create, were vital to the success of both. Five New Zealanders are lost on our roads every week. Their families don’t just lose a loved one. They lose a future. Using the science of forensic age progression, and the world-class resources of Weta Digital, we created scientifically accurate and lifelike portraits of five road victims as they would look today. New Zealand’s most-watched current affairs show covered the launch on prime time television, detailing the process and stories behind the portraits, as well as the heart breaking moments when the families saw their loved ones again. The story created a significant national response. Within 24 hours, it was picked up by NZs highest rated breakfast TV show, and largest online news portal. This unpaid media – which also included an article in New Zealand’s highest circulating Women’s magazine – complimented the press outdoor and online components of the campaign.

The Brief

In the lead up to Brake's 2015 Road Safety Week, we had two objectives: Firstly, to generate significant awareness for the charity during National Road Safety Week without significant amounts of paid media. And secondly, to get drivers to realise the potential lifelong cost of their decisions on the road. With a modest marketing budget, PR and the earned media it could create, were vital to the success of both. So we created a campaign that was compelling enough to generate news coverage, in press, magazines and social media – with a strong enough insight to give drivers a genuine reason to re-evaluate their decisions.

Results

With less than $40,000, our campaign created an immediate, national response. • Within 24hrs our campaign was picked up NZ's most watched breakfast news show, largest newspaper and online news portal, and most popular women's magazine - complimenting the press, outdoor and online components of the campaign • Brake received an estimated $1,317,017 worth of free media and PR, delivering and a return on investment of 32:1 • In just 5 days we had a reach equal to 1.4 times the New Zealand population • Volunteer registrations during Road Safety Week doubled • Brake received a 750% increase in general enquiries. • And best of all, in the month following our launch, we saw a 25% drop in road fatalities in New Zealand.

Execution

Once our creative response took shape, our team’s first step was to recruit partners. We recruited an Australian forensic expert and then got the internationally renowned WETA Digital on board to ensure our portraits felt like real people to the observer. Over $300,000 worth of value was provided - for a fraction of that cost. We engaged journalists early and the idea was picked up at no cost by New Zealand’s highest rating and most watched current affairs show - TVNZ ‘Sunday’. An event was created so all the families could come together, and see their portraits for the first time - delivering interviews and footage for ‘Sunday’, plus images and video to use in PR on the first day of Road Safety Week. Donated media in cinema, outdoor and print created further awareness of the initiative and directed New Zealanders online to view the portraits, stories and shareable content.

The Situation

Brake is a charity that educates drivers and supports victims of road tragedy. While established in the UK, it’s relatively new to New Zealand and required increased awareness and support. Its’ annual public-facing activity revolves around Road Safety Week - but for the week’s initiatives to be successful, Brake needed to get on the radar of the New Zealand public.

The Strategy

We partnered with New Zealand’s highest rating current affairs show, on the countries strongest network to launch our TV/PR component. We adopted this strategy due to the fact that we knew two of the families had a history with the network, having appeared on shows in the past. Our audience is broad so we chose mass-reach media to spread our message. The road toll doesn’t discriminate so we wanted to use our media opportunities to reach as many people as possible. And with road safety an issue that is frequently advertised - often with large-budget TV commercials highlighting drivers’s behaviour, we chose a very different approach. By maximising the appearance of our content in editorial environments - not ad breaks - and an emotive demonstration of the tragedy - not just the accident - we created content that was more newsworthy, and more shareable.