With kids naturally resistant to being ‘told’ what to do, our strategy for this campaign was designed to counteract any cynicism to conventional advertising messages, by enabling them to become the originators and creators of their own advertising, effectively placing them at the heart of the campaign. In partnership with a highly credible media owner, we were able to ensure that we could capitalise on TV’s strengths in dramatising the dangers they could face on Britain’s roads, whilst at the same time avoiding positioning the DfT in a potentially alienating ‘preachy’ position.

There were over 300 entries on the road safety discussion board on mtv.co.uk, with 170,000 votes cast in one week.Research revealed strong pre/ post campaign uplifts, with road safety as an ‘issue teens were concerned about’ rising from 2% to 10% - ahead of ‘drugs’ and ‘war/terror’.

In collaboration with MTV, we created ‘Ad Star Search’ – a promotion which enabled teens to create their own TV ads.

TV spots drove them to a website where they could submit their creative ideas. The best entrants were then invited to a workshop, where teams pitched their ideas to a panel of judges.

The whole process aired across MTV and online over six months, stimulating debate on the MTV website road safety forums.

Through the activity, we were looking to connect with a broad teenage audience, naturally cynical of, and likely to reject anything deemed to be too ‘authoritative’ or adult in tone.