Too many people die on New Zealand roads every year due to distracted driving and the problem is only getting worse, with distracted driving accounting for 26 deaths and 277 serious injuries between 2013 and 2018 in Auckland alone.

Reprimanding and gruesome advertising no longer work. So, Auckland Transport needed a fresh and cost-effective way to get Aucklanders to recognise the dangers of distracted driving, in a non-judgemental way.

Aucklanders don’t realise how dangerous distracted driving is. It’s so dangerous, even someone famous for doing dangerous things wouldn’t do it. So we partnered with Aucklander and Hollywood stuntwoman Zoë Bell.

Using one of the problems as the media (the mobile phone), Zoë shocked her fans by sharing a selfie video where she mirrored their dangerous driving habits; using her phone, drinking coffee and applying makeup.

The video ends with Zoë revealing that she wasn’t actually driving, but being towed on a trailer, with the message ‘no one is invincible’.

Not only is Zoë a Hollywood stunt woman, she is also a Aucklander, making her the perfect person to share our message.

Launching on Zoë’s Instagram Stories, then on Facebook and Twitter, we used one of the main problems as the media as a way to mirror a familiar and very dangerous behaviour.

By using these platforms, fans thought it was a regular post and were alarmed to see Zoë driving distracted. This resulted in genuine shock and anger towards the dangerous driving habits, until our ‘no one is invincible’ message was revealed.

The social video was shared beyond Zoë’s fan base, generating conversation about the dangers of distracted driving around the world.

The campaign launched on January 22nd 2019, as an Instagram Story on Zoë Bell’s own Instagram account. She also shared the video on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Partnering with Zoë, who’s hugely respected, ensured our message was shared organically beyond just her fan base. It had an organic reach of over 1 million people.

Her social fanbase meant that even with a very low production budget, our very important message was immediately picked up and shared by national prime-time news & entertainment stations, and the message resonated with people around the world, including actress Juliette Lewis and singer KT Tunstall.