Date of Implementation:

October 2013

Objectives:

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among youth 16-24 years of age. These accidents are caused by bad and inappropriate behaviour behind the wheel: speeding, drinking and driving, sending text messages while driving, etc.

How do we succeed in sensitizing young people who get an endless stream of all types of advice and directives, who are constantly exposed to new media and new technologies, and whose attention is harder and harder to get?

We had to find a way to surprise them, prompt an emotion, a reaction, a sensitivity and receptiveness to the message about road safety.

Insight and concept:

Young people believe they are invincible and it’s only when someone close to them has a car accident that they realize the danger is real. We wanted to put them face-to-face with young people like them who had lost their lives – life size ghosts – taking their place in the mirror.

The campaign happened in a totally unexpected place: in the washroom mirror at their junior college. The idea of surprising them in as intimate a setting as a washroom helped us to not only grab their attention, but also to keep it for a couple of minutes to get the message across.

The young ghosts (3 different ones) tell the stories of the accidents in which they died and explain that they were passengers when it happened. They mention they didn’t dare say anything to the driver and add that if they had, they might be alive today.

Execution:

To carry out the campaign a made-to-measure washroom cabinet with sink and mirror was fabricated. It had to be easy to carry because one of the objectives of the campaign was to sensitize a large number of young people, thereby visiting a good number of junior colleges.

The mirror concealed a 3D TV monitor that played the video testimonials of the ghosts. A motion detector inside the cabinet started the video when the presence of someone was detected.

Three ghost testimonials were played, one after the other. The themes covered in the testimonials were speeding, drinking and driving, and sending text messages while driving. Each message ended with the Web address fautledire.com (Dare to Say Something) where the testimonials could again be heard, in addition to finding a wealth of tools that could be shared to sensitize friends about road safety.

The campaign took place in 27 different junior colleges throughout the province.

Results and impact:

• There were more than 5,000 interactions between the ghosts and students. The reactions were very positive: many students said the shock factor in the videos reached them, made them think and led them to take actual preventive action.
• There were more than 210,000 viewings on Youtube in one week. There were close to 9,000 viewings and almost 200 shares on the Facebook page of the Quebec Auto Insurance Corporation. There were more than 400 mentions on Twitter and there was a ripple effect on 73 different Web sites.
• There was media spillover worth about 20 times what was invested in the media in less than a week.
• A drop in the number of deaths of 16-24 year-olds compared with the same period a year earlier (October to January.)