Clemenger BBDO/Touchcast: Legends don’t drink and drive

The lead character in Clemenger BBDO/Touchcast’s story for NZTA’s anti-drink driving campaign is a legend…as in, Leeegeeeend!!!

He’s the bloke who dares the most, does the wildest, lives life to the fullest – the leader in fun of his group of mates. The one whose behaviour the others follow (or, at the very least, admire).

Clemenger has found a very clever way to put a brake on the idea that it’s OK, or worse – cool – to drive drunk.

The audience for legends 2017 is blokes who don’t fear death. So the story focuses on something they care about much more deeply – the time they have with their mates out hunting, riding and hooning around.

Rachel Prince, principal advisor, network user behaviour. NZ Transport Agency, commented, “Research told us these guys push the limits with everything they do, including driving drunk. They don’t want us telling them what to do or making them feel bad for making the wrong call. We had to find a way to make the right call more appealing.”

Legend is a 2017 evolution of a campaign that began in 2011, with a TVC called Ghost Chips, whose original YouTube version was viewed 1.3 million times in its first month.

The Legend campaign has targeted different drink driving audiences over the years through a variety of media channels.

Brigid Alkema, executive creative director of Clemenger BBDO, noted, “We knew this piece was going to rely heavily on finding the right character. Nick and his team did a brilliant job in finding our guy, we wanted the real thing and we got him. I think we have something authentic and charming that hopefully the audience will love…and proudly own.”

Finch director, Nick Ball added, “It’s a rare opportunity to work with such a brave and confident agency and client team with such a heritage of great and compelling award-winning work. I’ve had a blast getting stuck into Rats’ rather unique world – it was an eye-opening, somewhat confronting experience from beginning to end – but I hope the authenticity of our world carries the message and delivers on what was a pretty fun piece of film to make.”