TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION | 10 KPH LESS | 1998
Just 10 km/h Can Be the Difference Between Life and Death / TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION "10 KPH LESS"
A speed-reduction ad released in 1997 by Australia's TAC. It shows, without flinching, a car hitting a person at 70 km/h.
The problem
In the state of Victoria, TAC has kept making ads that show the consequences of drunk driving and reckless driving without softening them, ever since its 1989 film "Girlfriend." Communicating the human cost of road accidents through emotional, educational and enforcement-minded themes has been this brand's consistent approach. "Girlfriend," which first aired in 1989, depicted a woman seriously injured in a drunk-driving crash, and became the starting point of the series.
The insight
A vague warning to "slow down" tends to go in one ear and out the other. What TAC chose instead was to show, in slow motion, a person being hit by a car at 70 km/h, while a doctor explains the effects on the human body and points out that braking from 60 km/h might have been enough to avoid the impact. Rather than an abstract call to watch your speed, the idea was to point directly at the single number that separates life from death.
The idea
Reenact the same situation at 60 km/h, and the person who was hit survives. Just a 10 km/h difference separates death from a near miss.
What happened
The ad remained remembered as TAC's signature work until Project Graham appeared in 2016. It won Gold.
Afterthought
Not "don't speed," but "drop 10 km/h." That specificity is probably what makes it work. I think I'll be more careful myself starting tomorrow.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 1998
