It looks as though Colenso and Finch’s Reduce Speed Dial experiment is going to show that drivers will slow down for their kids.
In 2014, Volkswagen was the biggest R&D spending company in the world, investing US$13.5 billion, much of it in developing safety.
VWs are getting safer and safer.
Drivers, not so much.
Driver behaviour, mainly speeding, is the single biggest cause of road crashes and most significant factor in determining whether a crash will be fatal. Most dangerous driving decisions are momentary lapses of judgement. They’re the impulsive responses things like, “Oh no, I’m late,” “For chrissake, guy in front, drive faster,” and “Woohoo, a straight road.”
Colenso BBDO and Finch wanted to know if they could change impulsive behaviour at the critical moment – just before it was launched.
And BBDO Russia turned a popular pastime, watching really bad car crash videos into a campaign for its insurance client, INTOUCH. Read that story here.
That turned into the Volkswagen Reduce Speed Dial experiment.
“Four families were supplied with Volkswagen Golfs. Unbeknown to the parents, we created a replacement panel for the speedo. They followed all of the clarity and safety restrictions of a standard speedo, but the dial was personally hand written by one of their children. This simple, personal mnemonic aimed to remind our parents what they have to live for at the exact moment they considered speeding,” Colenso explained.
The families were all very different. Each family car was used in its own way. The two agencies monitored the families’ driving habits to understand the impact of this idea and whether safer drivers could, in fact, be engineered. So far, so good:
- One family had no recorded speed infringements after the installation of the personalised speed dial
- One family reduced its top speed by 19kmh from a max of 123km to a max of 104km
- Half of the drivers’ maximum speeds reduced after fitting their personalised speed dial
- Three out of the four drivers reduced their incidence of speeding in 100km zones by 50%.
- All of the families reduced their speed in multiple driving situations
Tom Ruddenklau, general manager at Volkswagen New Zealand, commented, “With Volkswagen Group the biggest spending R&D company in the world, we focus on engineering safer cars year after year. But safety ratings don’t change driver behaviour – and there’s an opportunity for our brand to do our bit in trialling some things that may. It was a great opportunity to work with four Kiwi families to investigate a simple idea that may one day help us all.”
Nick Worthington, creative chairman Colenso BBDO, added, “As with most problems we often overlook the most simple answer. We hope that the results from this early trial help to direct more focus on the cause of the vast majority of crashes – the driver. This has been an emotional process for everyone involved and we believe that having a simple reminder from a loved one in front us at the exact moment when you are thinking about speeding is a brilliant way to make people think about everything and everyone they have to live for.”
The case study film was directed by Luke Bouchier.
Creative credits;
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Creative chairman: Nick Worthington
Creative director: Levi Slavin
Digital creative director: Aaron Turk
Production: Finch
Executive producer: Michael Hilliard
Director: Luke Bouchier
