Drug driving now kills more Kiwis than drink driving. But the families affected are often too ashamed and afraid to talk. We needed a way to encourage these families to come forward, at a highly sensitive and tragic time, and tell their real stories. We partnered with Ashleigh, a young woman who lost her own cousin to drug driving, and she became the ‘voice’ for all the families. The anonymity given by Ashleigh encouraged others to come forward, which in turn inspired more, proving the truth to New Zealand in an inarguable way.

Drug driving now kills more Kiwis than drink driving. The families affected are often too ashamed to share their stories, so the truth remains silent. Because of this, 90% of Kiwis denied drug driving was a problem, and any government safety messaging sounded like propaganda. We needed to prove the truth in an inarguable way.

This campaign was the first PSA that would only run if it needed to. Each execution was brought to life from a real story, in other words, if there were no drug driving deaths, there would be no PSAs. The campaign was made exclusively using real stories of real drug driving losses sent in by real families. To garner these responses, we partnered with a credible voice, who then shared the stories back out. By relying completely on these real time responses, we were able to prove the truth.

Ashleigh was recruited to front the campaign. She is a real person who lost her own cousin to drug driving, making her a credible voice for other victims. She offered to share people’s stories for them, allowing them to remain anonymous. People who lost someone to drug driving were able to message her directly. Their stories were filmed and shared by Ashleigh on that day, and became her ‘recruitment’ for the next story. Each time she came back would be the last, unless someone new messaged in.

First, Ashleigh filmed and shared her own story of losing someone to drug driving. This story played once, on prime time TV. She promised the nation she would only come back if there were more drug driving deaths to share. No deaths: no campaign. One by one, the deaths came in. Each family that shared their deeply personal story with Ashleigh had it turned into a haunting tribute, a one off film that aired once only. The nation saw real grief in real time.

Tragically, in just 6 weeks, over 250 real drug driving deaths were received and the raw and honest stories shared with the nation. To put that number in perspective, it had taken seven months just to find Ashleigh, one person willing to share their story. By the end of the campaign, scepticism around the issue had dropped from 64 to 14%. Discussion around driving impairment grew from 17 to 87%, where it had previously been derailed by other sentiments around general drug use. Measures of concern around drug driving almost doubled. And on Day 151 of the campaign, the Government announced roadside testing would be introduced, finally bringing New Zealand in line with the rest of the world.