New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA): GHOST CHIPS

Credits & Description:

Category: Public Sector
Advertiser: NEW ZEALAND TRANSPORT AGENCY
Product/Service: ROAD SAFETY
Agency: CLEMENGER BBDO
Executive Creative Director: Philip Andrew (Clemenger BBDO)
Art Director: Brigid Alkema (Clemenger BBDO)
Copywriter: Mitch Alison (Clemenger BBDO)
Copywriter: Brigid Alkema (Clemenger BBDO)
Agency Producer: Martin Gray (Clemenger BBDO)
Producer: Larisa Tiffin (The Sweet Shop)
Director: Steve Ayson (The Sweet Shop)
Group Account Director: Linda Major (Clemenger BBDO)
Account Director: Julianne Hastings (Clemenger BBDO)
Editor: Peter Scribberas (The Butchery)
Composer: Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper (Franklin Road)
Post Production Company: (Toybox)
Sound Design: (Franklin Road)
Production Company: (The Sweet Shop)
Copywriter: Philip Andrew (Clemenger BBDO)
Media placement: TV Launch - TVNZ - 23rd October 2011
Media placement: Online Placement - YouTube - 24th October 2011
Summary of the Campaign
Drink Driving is a big problem in New Zealand, particularly with young Maori guys. When they’re out partying with their mates, the last thing they want to do is to kill the vibe by telling a mate not to drive home drunk. We needed them to speak up regardless of the social consequences. The problem is that any traditional ‘doom and gloom’ style messaging has no impact on this target audience.
We decided to tackle the issue with ‘Ghost Chips’, the first ever New Zealand anti-drink-driving campaign with a positive message that portrayed the audience in a cool, aspirational way. We used humour to break through and gave our audience the tools and catchphrases they needed to help them speak up at the moment of truth.
This a worthy PR entry, because of the unprecedented editorial coverage the campaign received. It was also the biggest viral and meme of the year, resulting in countless mashups. All this led to loads of coverage in the news, breakfast shows, blogs, forums and social-media.
The Situation
Our client is NZTA (New Zealand Transport Authority) and one of the biggest issues they have to deal with is drink driving. It’s a big problem in New Zealand, particularly with young Maori guys. When they’re out partying with their mates, the last thing they want to do is to kill the vibe by telling a mate not to drive home drunk. The problem is that any traditional Government-style messaging has no impact on this target audience.
The Goal
We needed this issue to be raised and become a newsworthy topic on news-sites, blogs, forums, breakfast shows and social-media.
Specifically, we needed young Maori guys to speak up when a mate was about to drive drunk, regardless of the social consequences. In order to do this, we needed to give them the tools and catchphrases they needed to speak up at the moment of truth.
The Strategy
We had a simple strategy. Create a compelling piece of content, lace it with potential catch-phrases and mashability, and then let everything else take care of itself.
Execution
We launched ‘Ghost Chips’ on TV the night of the Rugby World Cup Final. But it was also a social-media activation campaign designed to start conversations online. So we deliberately placed the content on YouTube with no paid PR, digital media or viral seeding. It was up to the audience to find and then share it amongst their peers. This was a core part of the strategy, as people love to discover things for themselves online. As soon as you tell them what’s ‘cool’ they instinctively turn off, particularly online opinion-leaders.
Documented Results
1.8m views on YouTube for a country of 4.8m.
#1 most-viewed video in New Zealand for the month.
#1 top favorited for the month in New Zealand.
#1 top-rated video for the month in New Zealand.
#1 educational video of all time in New Zealand.
Front page news in NZ.
Hotly debated topic on social-media, forums and blogs.
Over 175 Facebook pages based on individual lines were spontaneously created. One page alone had over 70,000 members.
The ad resulted in the biggest New Zealand meme of the year. Countless YouTube mashups and email memes were created.
Many of the lines entered into the Kiwi vernacular. In fact, ‘Ghost Chips’ and ‘really complicated situation’ were voted 1 and 2 best ‘one-liners’ of the year in New Zealand.