Design > Brand Environment & Experience Design

LOST IN THE RAIN (DRIVE WITH CARE)

MRM//McCANN, Singapore / GENERAL MOTORS / 2017

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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Idea

At the centre of the campaign was a fairly simple idea: tell the stories of those who had been “lost in the rain” to drive awareness when it matters most: when crossing the street.

The medium was road signs created using a stencil and a special hydrophobic liquid (water repellant) that when sprayed on the road created messages that were invisible when dry but would appear when the roads got wet.

Installed at several strategic road locations around Mumbai and Delhi at the start of the monsoon season, the road signs revealed themselves to the public when it rained.

The message was not a typical road safety message sponsored by Chevrolet, it was the stories of victims and their families told in a new way, in environments where the messages took on a heightened relevancy and immediacy for both pedestrians and those who saw the content online.

Execution

The hydrophobic paint was key. It had to be tested on multiple road conditions and be able to withstand pedestrian traffic and heavy rainfall in the monsoon.

 

Working with Muskaan (A local road safety foundation) we interviewed victims’ family members for their stories. From these, we created a variety of messages which were then cut into stencils. With the support of local traffic authorities, these were then installed at locations near high accident zones in Mumbai and Delhi, sprayed with the hydrophobic paint and left to dry. These signs would remain invisible until the early rains would make the signs appear as road safety signs for the monsoon.

A standard highway font was used for maximum legibility.

A social video and banners led viewers to a website on road safety, with PR helping spread the word to greater online and offline audiences.

 

Results

On social media, the video got 14.7 million views while the safety website drove 3.7 million engagements. On Facebook, Chevrolet India received a 92% positive sentiment score for the campaign, with users praising the brand for the timely initiative.

 

Most importantly, the innovative wet signs captured the media’s attention with CNN, CNBC, TV18, IBN and other networks and publications covering the campaign and raising the subject of road safety into a national conversation.

Strategy

In a country with a population of over a billion people, road death statistics are not impactful. The goal was to give a human element to the data, to tell the stories of real victims and their families who had been impacted by avoidable road fatalities as a warning to others to stay safe on wet roads.

The heart of the campaign would be the victim stories as road signs, shared on social and online, with PR and dealership events providing reaching greater audiences.

Capturing the signs and their messages in a series of video and content pieces shared online and on social media, Chevrolet started a social, PR and influencer program designed to drive the campaign across multiple audiences and involve the widest possible number of drivers and pedestrians in a nationwide conversation.

Background

In India, 17 people die in road accidents every hour, most of them pedestrians making it the road accident capital of the world. And accidents are 5x more likely when it rains with the deadly spike in incidents happening during the monsoon season.

Many of the accidents could be avoided with proper warning signs in high incident areas and general awareness of the issue among both pedestrians and drivers. However there are not enough warning signs on the road and not enough awareness to be extra careful when it rains. There was also a marked lack of education for drivers and pedestrians on proper road safety habits.

Compounding to the problem was the phenomenon of 'sign blindness' where people 'tune out' everyday sights and signs making them quickly lose relevance.

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