2007-2008 Campaign Overview
Under the chairmanship of John Vine, Chief Constable of Tayside Police, ACPOS launched a two week campaign whereby police officers were being instructed to breath test not only drivers who were involved in road traffic accidents, and drivers who were suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, but also drivers stopped in relation to a moving traffic offence.
Chief Constable Vine was also keen to see the drink-drive limit reduced and more powers for the police to tackle the issue. With drink-driving high on the agenda, RSS developed a wide-ranging media campaign in support of the police activity. The campaign was launched on 16th July and incorporated a radio advert, and substantial online activity, including a campaign micro-site. The radio advert would play for two weeks as from 16th July, and the online activity with The Scotsman, The Herald, STV and ‘Fast and Modified’ would run at the same time. In addition, some 10,000 A3 posters and 100,000 beermats were produced for distribution throughout Scotland.
To see the press release for the campaign launch click here.
Xbox Live Campaign
December 2007 saw RSS using an innovative, completely new way of getting its drink-driving message across, targeting Scottish online console gamers. The initiative was the first of its kind to be used in the UK and involved IP (Internet Protocol) targeting to regionalise the in-game advertising campaign.
The campaign tapped directly into Xbox Live's 18-24 year old user base, with drink-driving adverts appearing in games such as EA’s 'Need for Speed Pro Speed', 'Need for Speed Carbon' and Microsoft Games Studio’s 'Project Gotham Racing'. At a time when 24% of all adult media consumption is online, 69% of all Scots are online and 68% of young men aged 12-17 have a games’ console in their home, the potential of such advertising is clear to see.
Research had shown that gamers get so involved in their virtual world, that it results in a heightened sense of awareness and this had been shown to score very highly in advertising effectiveness studies.
An added benefit of this particular campaign was the amount of PR generated. Coverage appeared in places which could not normally be reached by paid-for media such as the Scottish press, Radio 4's Today programme, the BBC website and dozens of links appearing in Google (type in 'xbox drink drive').
Michael McDonnell, Director of RSS was delighted that this project had gone live: "We need to look beyond the conventional methods of addressing key road safety issues which affect young people and I believe that the positioning of the drink-drive message in online console games will serve as an ever-present reminder to young Scots about the consequences of drink-driving".
