Case Study: How RAC + JWT’s Attention Powered Car made Australians pay attention on the road

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Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 10.00.09 am.jpgCase Study: Inattention is implicated in a phenomenal 46% off all serious injuries and deaths on Australian roads. Despite this, there was very little awareness, research or media coverage on the subject.

So inattention was identified as the perfect platform to demonstrate the RAC’s new positioning, ‘For The Better.’

Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 10.00.16 am.jpgThe vehicle – both literal and figurative – created by its agency JWT, via Finch, to promote the issue was the world’s first Attention Powered Car.

Using a neuro-sensory headset, custom software and the first ever algorithm to calculate what a moment of inattention looks like, the car goes when the driver is Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 10.00.23 am.jpgpaying attention, and slows when he or she isn’t.

The innovation alone promoted awareness, but the neuro-technology developed meant it also became the RAC’s very own mobile laboratory.

With the help of Western Australians, it would be capable of testing distractions in all their forms, different drivers and even different emotions.

To share this unique story with Western Australians and involve them in the learnings, JWT devised a multi-phase, multi-channel approach.

Press and TV set up the problem of inattention in an impactful way in the Perth metropolitan area as well as badly affected WA regional areas.

The microsite, forthebetter.com.au, was the central content hub, with all other channels linking back to it.

Webisodes were shared via YouTube and the newsfeeds of the RAC’s Facebook followers.

Owned social media – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – garnered intrigue in the campaign and drove people back to the microsite.

Online display advertising was used as an awareness driver.

Direct communications to RAC members via member events, eDM, the member magazine, posters and flyers in Member Service Centres gave the RAC direct means of communicating with their members throughout the campaign.

A world-first idea such as this also had huge PR potential, so earned media was one of the campaign’s most important channels.

JWT and RAC took the car on a road trip around some of WA’s worst affected areas. This was the first ever, live road study of its kind. Members of the public were invited to help drive the car and learn more about the problem, with the journey  filmed and released online for people to follow and engage with.

The aim of the road trip was to prove that inattention affects everyone, every time they get into the car. The road trip was followed up with a series of closed circuit experiments to further explore the problem of inattention.

The findings were shared through a further series of webisodes, paid media and PR.

The results-in-progress suggest the campaign has been a major success. The launch of the Attention Powered Car alone received global media coverage, with more than 55 million earned media impressions. Locally, major TV networks picked up the story and followed the campaign’s progress, and webisodes have gained well over 330,000 views.

Even more significantly, a solution may have been found for the problem of inattention.

After looking at all the data collected from the Attention Powered Car, it was discovered that the longer drivers spent in the car with real-time feedback (the penalty of slowing down), the higher their base attention levels became and the better they were at blocking out distractions – proving that attentive driving is a learnt skill. As a result, work has begun, again via Finch, on developing a simplified, wearable version of the technology that can easily be implemented in driver education and training programs – one of the RAC’s services – as well as for everyday use.

The Attention Powered Car is a world-class idea that tackled a very real problem in road safety. The ambitious, multi-level integrated campaign around it was very well executed, delivering great awareness of the specific issue and more broadly promoting the ‘new’ RAC in a unique and compelling way.