Kia Canada is putting the ‘ink’ in the anti-drinking and driving message through a new partnership with MADD Canada.
The PSA campaign from Innocean Worldwide Canada, the automaker’s agency of record, uses so-called “memorial tattoos” to alert Canadians to the possible lifelong repercussions of driving drunk. Each year, more than 1,100 people die and more than 68,000 people (approximately 190 people each day) are injured as a direct result of impaired driving, according to MADD Canada research.
Working from a creative brief that stated “Guns, knives and car keys – they can all be deadly,” Innocean presented three creative concepts to Kia, with the memorial tattoos concept a clear winner.
The three executions feature men and women adorned with black ink renderings of the people they killed as a result of driving while drunk. Gerald Schoenhoff, Innocean’s senior vice-president, executive creative director, told Marketing that pre-campaign research on memorial tattoos found that they are typically rendered only in black.
All of the ads are accompanied by the message “The consequences stay with you forever. If you drink, don’t drive” alongside the Kia and MADD logos.
Schoenhoff said that the client was seeking a creative concept that focused not on the immediate results of drinking and driving, such as a car crash, but on its possible aftermath.
“People when they’re out having a good time only think about the moment, but they don’t really think about the lifelong effect – not just for the victims but also for themselves.”
According to Schoenhoff, the MADD partnership aligns with the automaker’s 18-month-old “Drive Change” platform. “Kia as a company wants to get involved in the community and social change, so it just made a ton of sense for them as an automaker to partner with MADD,” he said. “Kia’s wish is to be a brand that has a responsibility within the community.”
The ads are currently running in magazines and will also appear across Zoom Media’s resto-bar network, daily newspapers and possibly transit shelters as the holiday season approaches. Media for the campaign was handled by ZenithOptimedia Canada.
How likely is this creative concept going to resonate with Canadians? Are PSA campaigns like this able to drastically change consumer behaviour? Post your thoughts in our comment section.
