AAMI Warning Spots combine multiple data sources to deliver a world-first in road safety messages: Spotify ads using advanced geotargeting to pinpoint a driver’s precise location and alert them to a specific road hazard ahead. For years, AAMI Insurance has been collecting data from thousands of accidents across Australia. This knowledge, in combination with additional data from government reports and other sources help us identify not only the exact locations of accident hotspots, but also their major causes. Using Spotify’s superb geolocation capabilities, we can then target drivers approaching these accident hotspots and warn them of the oncoming dangers ahead.

Situation: There are too many avoidable accidents on Australian roads. No one knows this better than AAMI, Australia’s leading health insurance company. Every year, AAMI collects comprehensive data from thousands of road accidents across Australia, into their annual AAMI Accident Index. Then publishes the locations of accident hotpots and major causes of accidents in an effort to make drivers aware of these dangers.

Brief: AAMI knows accident numbers spike over long weekends and holidays. Our challenge was to create a road safety campaign to remind Australians to be extra careful, particularly around the most dangerous locations. We needed an innovative solution to deliver this important message.

Objectives: Making people healthier is at the heart of everything AAMI stands for. We thought it was time time to put all our data to good use, make our roads a little safer and help reduce the number of accidents over long weekends.

AAMI Warning Spots combine multiple data sources to deliver a world-first in road safety messages: Spotify ads using advanced geotargeting to pinpoint a driver’s precise location and alert them to a specific road hazard ahead.

AAMI knew there’s an accident spike around long weekends and national holidays. In addition, the AAMI Accident data tells us the most dangerous roads, the locations of accident hotspots and the major causes of accidents.

Victoria’s Great Ocean Road was identified as one of the country’s most dangerous roads and the ideal location to launch AAMI Warning Spots. In order to identify the biggest accident hotspots along the 243km stretch of road, we gathered additional data from government reports and other sources.

Using Spotify’s advanced geotargeting capabilities, we could pinpoint the precise location of a driver. We matched Spotify’s geolocation data with AAMI’s data to target drivers in close proximity to notorious hotspots.

Data Gathering. AAMI collects comprehensive data from thousands of crashes across Australia to identify the country’s most dangerous roads. To narrow down the exact locations of the main accident hotspots and find the major cause of these accidents, we gathered additional data from government reports and other sources.

Data Interpretation. The data revealed a number of different hazards were the major cause of accidents at each of the hotspots: tight corners, road narrows, rough surfaces and native wildlife amongst them. To best prepare drivers of the oncoming danger ahead, we needed different tailored messages at each of the selected hotspots.

Targeting. Using Spotify’s advanced geotargeting capabilities, we were able to establish small targeting zones around each accident hotspot. Dynamically tracking the exact position of the driver and relaying this position to host servers, where the relevant targeted ad is requested and played back in the upcoming ad break.

Most people listen to music while driving, especially on road trips or long drives over holiday break periods. Spotify is Australia’s most popular music site, used by nearly 2.2 million people. This audience is almost exclusively listening to Spotify’s mobile app, with 60% of all users using the free ad-funded platform.

Spotify presented a unique way to target young Australians on the road. Rather than generic road safety messages that are easy to forget, we alerted drivers of specific dangers ahead.

Only drivers in close proximity of a hotspot could hear an AAMI Warning Spot, and crucially, it would alert them of the specific hazard they were approaching.

AAMI Warning Spots campaign launched on March 8, during the Victorian Labour Day long weekend. A national campaign followed, with AAMI Warning Spots produced for the biggest accident hotspots in Australia.

Data enhanced consumer experience: Reach numbers were restricted to Spotify listeners within small geotargeted areas in close proximity to accident hotspots. 64% of all Spotify listeners driving through our targeted areas were served an AAMI Warning Spot, nearly two thirds of the total audience.

Data driven behavior change: Engagement was high, with a 94% completion rate, much higher than the average Spotify ad.

Business Impact: Our campaign was an awareness road safety message, and as such there were no specific sales or business targets. However, after the successful launch, Warning Spots are now being served across Australia, alerting drivers of specific hazards at all major accident hotspots in every state.