Fatal accidents mostly happen as a result of being distracted while driving.

In Germany, 80% of young drivers still use their smartphones at the wheel. But dramatic reports and serious warnings from persons of authority don’t seem to have any effect. Deutsche Verkehrswacht, Germany’s federal Road Safety Organization, asked us to finally wake up young drivers and to warn them of the high risk they’re taking.

A powerful symbol, the ever-present memorial cross, seen all too often on roadsides all over Germany, was re-fashioned for the Instagram generation into a sharable and personalizable memorial hashtag - the Crashtag.

Checking social media status updates while driving instead of checking the road is a huge danger. Current traffic education and information campaigns keep failing to give young drivers a true wake-up call. Persons of authority don’t have enough influence to change their behavior. This is why the Crashtag initiative successfully involved the most powerful influencers for young people on Instagram: other young people on Instagram. Thus, young people not only built the core of the campaign, but they were also its multipliers.

A powerful symbol, the ever-present memorial cross, seen all too often on roadsides all over Germany, was re-fashioned for the Instagram generation into a sharable and personalizable memorial hashtag - the Crashtag.

We made the Crashtag visible on city streets, country roads and Street View, but most importantly on Instagram. There, we gave young people the opportunity to send their friends a picture of a Crashtag with their names written on it. A warning message to truly shake them up and let them know they care about their safety.

Hundreds of pre-produced and personalized Crashtags, bearing the most common first names, were shared in their thousands. Even car-influencers took notice and publicly promised to put their phones away while driving. Crashtag then led to something much bigger: It officially became part of the German Police's information campaign. And they’re still using it now, both online and locally, to warn all people of one of the highest risks on the road.