Especially for young audiences, branded entertainment in the United States is vitally important for breaking through, and even more so when brands find themselves challenged to affect different behavioral outcomes. Saturated with thousands of commercial messages every day, from branded vending machines in schools to banner ads on social media channels, young Americans struggle to digest a fraction of the information marketers throw their way. Unless it’s relevant to their lives and delivered in a way that adds experiential value.

This understanding was the inspiration behind AT&T’s 2012 campaign built around giving teens the virtual experience of texting and driving. Using 3D gaming technology, the company created a driving simulator and then put teens “behind the wheel” to experience the results of driving while distracted by texts.

AT&T was driven to create the experiential campaign by an overwhelming case for change. Texting is a beloved activity, especially among teenagers still new to driving. The intersection of teen driving and texting has been particularly dangerous. Of the more than 100,000 vehicle crashes each year, many involve teens and young adults who send on average five times as many text messages than a typical adult (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Research).

How do you persuade “invincible” teens about the dangers of texting and driving in a way that truly gets through without putting them at risk?

Since 2009, AT&T has talked about texting and driving in advertising, media relations and social media. But in 2012, AT&T grabbed the wheel to take its "It Can Wait" campaign to the next level in creating behavioral change: It introduced a 3D texting-and-driving simulator at the center of a program to transform a generation.

The simulator put nearly 50,000 teens behind the virtual wheel in high schools, universities and sporting events across the country.

A national press conference in D.C. kicked off more than 70 local PR events. The simulator was unveiled for thousands of students and media, and celebrity and third-party endorsements flooded social media. AT&T declared September 19th 2012 “No Text on Board Pledge Day.” By the end of the month, more than 1m people had taken the pledge. Change happened. A new code for the road was born.

Goal

• Change texting-while-driving behaviors.

Strategy

• Through simulators and first-person stories, to enable young drivers to safely experience the impact of texting while driving.

• Urge a public, personal commitment that can be shared with others.

Execution

• National “See for Yourself” Tour: Organized 200+ events for teen drivers to experience texting and driving virtually.

• Online Experience: Simulator built to live online at itcanwaitsimulator.org.

• Pledge Day: AT&T declared September 19th its first-ever National Pledge Day, with 70+ local events and a national event with AT&T Chairman, FCC Commissioner and U.S. Sec. of Transportation. To make it personal, AT&T launched an online pledge, including a share component.

• Third-Party Outreach: Engaged 165 third-party groups, along with 39,000+ high schools.

• Celebrity Engagement: Leveraged sponsorships and engaged teen stars to support the movement.

AT&T creatively developed and deployed an experiential message delivery system that its teen and young adult target audience would naturally be drawn to – video gaming. By wrapping its message of the dangers of texting while driving in this virtual experience, complete with full-on arcade driving features, AT&T utilized the simulator to literally put teens in the driver’s seat and sent text prompts to their own phones for them to respond. All it took were a few milliseconds and taps at their phone for the point about texting and driving to come crashing through. Screech audio. Bam. Game over. Message received.

It Can Wait is making a true difference in changing behavior:

• More than 1.2m have taken the pledge not to text while driving.

• 97% of teens now say that texting while driving is dangerous.

• One in three people say that 'texting while driving' messages have affected their driving habits.

• Awareness of the ICW message increased 26% during the campaign.

Supporting results indicate the momentum the campaign generated:

• 4,000+ media placements generating 1bn+ impressions.

• 250m unique user accounts across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

• 153m+ Twitter accounts reached with #ItCanWait

• 102m+ unique Facebook impressions

• Nearly 7m YouTube views

AT&T was recognized as taking a bold stand on the issue:

• The campaign had a significant impact on customers' willingness to recommend AT&T, as promoters went up by 15% and detractors decreased by 23%.