Do young people pay attention to road safety messages? Time and a 101 advertisements say, “no”. They do pay attention to quirky videos. So that’s what Ogilvy Spain has given them in its awareness campaign for Spain’s Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) in the lead-up to Easter.

The campaign is aimed, not at drivers but mindless pedestrians – pedestrians following the current trend called, “glued to your phone”. Fair to say the awareness campaign’s message is a take care warning for drivers too.

In Spain, using a mobile phone while walking has become normalised to the point of becoming a widespread habit. According to the DGT, one in three pedestrians admits to using it always or frequently while getting around the city. Making calls, reading or sending messages, listening to music or podcasts, or recording voice notes are all part of this behaviour, even though 86% of users admit they pay less attention when crossing the street.

It’s a habit with real and nasty consequences. In 2024, 320 pedestrians died in Spain and, although not all cases were related to mobile phone use, it has become one of the leading causes of distraction, especially among younger people.

The campaign’s hero shows a man absorbed in his phone while he crosses a crosswalk, oblivious to the striking scenes unfolding around him. Through the flashes of paparazzi cameras, the narrative shifts to a more conceptual, dreamlike plane, where the protagonist remains detached from reality. At that point, scenes inspired by the content he consumes begin to unfold, such as a runaway bride or young people dancing viral routines. The ending reveals the consequences of that distraction when, ultimately, he is hit by a car.

“Saying that we’re a society held hostage by a screen may sound trite, but it’s completely true. At 50 km/h, looking at your phone while crossing doesn’t expose you to a scare; it exposes you to an impact with an extremely high probability of death,” statedGuille Fernández and Pablo Poveda, creative directors at Ogilvy.

The full campaign is runnnig across television, radio, print, digital media, and social networks in Spain starting March 24 and running for two weeks.

Credits:

Client: Dirección General de Tráfico
Client Team: Susana Estévez, María Chico y Elisa Isabel Fernández

Creative Agency: Ogilvy
CCO: Roberto Fara
Executive Creative Directors: Juan Pedro Moreno, Javier Senovilla
Creative Directors: Guille Fernández, Pablo Poveda
Creative Team: Mabel Segarra y España Navarro
Managing Director & Client Business Partner: Vanesa Porto
Account Director: Laura Roldán
Account Team: Elena Dilla
Head of Social: Sofía Martínez
Social Team: Ana Merino, Nerea Heredia.
Agency PR: Christian Martinez, Paula García-Ajofrín
Director of Audiovisual Production WPPproduction: Aarón Lago
Executive Producer WPPproduction: Pablo Riaño Sánchez
Producer WPPproduction: Cristina Traver

Production Company: Be Sweet
Producer: Tomás Peña
DOP: Tomáš Kotas
Executive Producer: Luciano Firmo
Producer: Lucas Vallina
Post-Production Coordinador, Be Sweet: Javier Martínez Jaurrieta
Editor: Borja Bernal Muñoz
Photographer: Pablo Más
Post-production: WPP Production
WPP Production Post-production Coordinator: Elena Nebreda
Post-producción WPP Production Manager & Coordinator: Anabella Zubillaga
Colourist: Marc Morató
VFX Lead: Tomy García 

VFX: Artists: Tomy García, Alfonso Alvarez, Celia Hurtado, Jorge Febrero, Pablo Lozano, Carlos Jie Zhou
Graphics & Animation: Laura Pereyra
Music Production & Sound Design: Isilik
Final Mix & Voice Recording: Urko Larrañaga (Iberian)
Media Agency: IKI Group