VOLKSWAGEN | DON'T MAKE UP AND DRIVE | 2012
A makeup tutorial suddenly crashes / VOLKSWAGEN "DON'T MAKE UP AND DRIVE"
You're watching a tutorial on how to do your makeup, when suddenly you hear a car crash and the screen shakes. That's the one-minute video VOLKSWAGEN put out on YouTube in 2012.
The problem
In the UK, driving accidents caused by putting on makeup while behind the wheel numbered 500,000 a year. Even so, young women barely saw it as dangerous. Doing your makeup was just part of daily life, and nobody ever told them it was risky.
The insight
What young women at the time were hooked on were "how-to" tutorial videos teaching makeup techniques. DDB Berlin's idea wasn't to lecture them, but to plant a crash right in the middle of one of those very videos.
The idea
They brought in a makeup artist named Nikkie, who had 150,000 followers at the time. In a video called "A crash course to shine," she was teaching her usual rhinestone makeup technique as normal. Then, just as she started applying glitter, the room shook violently and her body was thrown forward, as if she'd been rear-ended. The screen went dark, and text appeared along with the logo: "500,000 accidents happen each year from putting on makeup while driving. Don't make up and drive."
What happened
Within five days of release, it had 130,000 views and over 2,100 comments. It eventually surpassed 1.5 million views and won a GOLD award.
Afterthought
Even before the word "influencer" became common, this campaign already understood the power of stepping into someone's own context. For people who came looking for a makeup tutorial, it burned a minute into their memory they'd never forget. This is a moment where an ad slips quietly into someone's everyday life.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2012
