The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) aims to reduce the number of deaths on Victorian roads by educating drivers about specific behaviors that put them at risk. Research shows that the most deadly of these behaviors is speeding.

Our task was to break through the communications clutter and deliver a powerful message that would resonate with the target audience. To do so, we took a 360-degree photograph of a real car wreck and attached it, as a skin, on a normal working car. We drove this faux-crashed car around the streets of Victoria, reaching people at the places they were most likely to appreciate the message. On the highway, on the streets and in parking lots. Drivers were struck by the impact of the idea and the novelty of its execution. Additionally, Crashed Car generated valuable earned media, amplifying the reach of the message once news outlets heard of it. The result:- In the month the campaign was launched, road fatalities in Victoria fell to just 12 down from 37 in the previous month and 23 in the same month the previous year.

Although it is impossible to isolate the impact of this one ad within the overall activity of the TAC, wouldn’t one life saved as a result of this idea be enough?

To achieve the goals of our brief, we took a 360-degree photograph of real car crash wrecks, digitally blended them together into a true-to-life image skin, and stuck this skin onto a working car. The tag line “*slowing down won’t kill you*” was added on the side of the car. Our Crashed Car drove down the streets of Victoria grabbing the attention of speeding drivers and drivers who might speed in the future. Thousands of people stopped to examine the car while it was parked on the street--walking 360-degrees around to examine the result of a real car crash--and thousands more would have noticed it on the road.The car appeared at press conferences and motor shows, generating additional impressions and valuable earned media that brought the message into more households.

Hundreds of thousands of Victorians have been exposed to the message that speeding kills-but in a novel way that they might remember for a long time to come. At a more intimate level, thousands of people stopped to examine the car whilst parked--walking 360-degrees around it to examine the result of a car crash.In the month the campaign was launched, road fatalities in Victoria fell to just 12--down from 37 in the previous month and 23 in the same month the previous year.

Though impossible to isolate the impact of this one ad within the overall activity of the TAC, wouldn’t just one life saved, or one person reached through this idea, be enough of a result?