Despite previous campaigns, the number of railway fatalities in The Netherlands tripled since 2016. Most victims being teenagers. Often, the result of reckless behaviour around railway tracks. To halt this dramatic rise, Dutch governmental railway company ProRail had to get through to a young, hard to reach and even harder to impress audience. So impact was needed.

We launched ‘Victim Fashion, Created by accident’: a youth safety campaign disguised as a fashion label. The collection is based on the clothing victims wore when the fatal railway accident happened. Each item was made in cooperation with forensic experts. Influencers hyped the brand and invited followers to the launch at an Amsterdam fashion event. In front of cameras, the press and key influencers, the true story behind the collection was revealed. The stories behind each item could subsequently be discovered in detail on the fashion label’s Instagram account and website. As a warning of what can happen when safety rules around railway tracks are ignored.

Teenagers are notoriously hard to reach and even harder to impress. To get through to them, we chose for the biggest common denominator: fashion. Disguising a youth safety campaign as the next big thing in fashion. The brand was hyped by three prominent influencers who were in on the project. Carefully selected for their audience, that besides teens, consisted of many other fashion influencers. Once we had everyone’s attention, the shocking truth behind the new label was revealed to the young audience, press and fashion community. All to warn teenagers to be more safe around railway tracks and halt the rising number of fatalities.

We created a new fashion line in cooperation with forensic experts, based on police reports and clothing from actual accidents. The campaign then kicked off with three prominent influencers who were in on the project. We teased the audience with close-ups of the clothings ‘cool distressed look’. Subsequently, the influencers invited their followers (among which many secondary influencers) to the label launch at an Amsterdam Fashion event. Hundreds of youngsters and unpaid key influencers RSVP’ed (and even begged) to be at the Victim Fashion launch. In front of cameras, the press and key influencers, the shocking truth behind the collection was revealed. The stories behind each item could subsequently be discovered in detail on the fashion label’s Instagram account and ‘web-store’.

What happened after the launch exceeded everyone’s expectations. In The Netherlands, all the important news programs featured Victim Fashion prime time more than once.

International headlines across 20+ countries. Debated worldwide on social.

- Over 1.2 billion media impressions

- Earned media (conservative estimated) worth: 14.5 million euro

- International media coverage in over 20 countries, i.a.:

UK: BBC, Sun; Russia: Esquire; US: Forbes, HuffPost; Indonesia: Tribun, Pantau, BBC Indonesia; France: Le Figaro, l’Obs, HuffPost; Greece: Kathimerini; Belgium: VRT, HLN; Japan: Jiji, AFP; and many more.

Nationally we reached 74% of the entire Dutch teenage audience.

- 745.000 via influencers

- RTV media: 6.070.000 viewers, 9.548.000 listeners

- Online & print media: 20.043.173

- Social channels: 7.700.000 viewers

- Own channels: 620.000 views

- Paid online media: 1.053.162 views

All results were achieved with a total media budget of under €20K. Spent on the 3 key influencers and Instagram.