McCann’s ‘Dumb ways to die’ for Metro Trains Melbourne rewards fans with karaoke version
The fastest spreading Australian viral video of all time now boasts an official karaoke version, as McCann and Metro Trains Melbourne continue to roll out elements of the popular “Dumb Ways to Die” safety campaign.
The original three-minute music video, which depicts gruesome ways to die, including setting fire to your hair and standing on the edge of a train platform, has gained more than 30 million views and re-posts since launching 12 days ago and spawned a wide variety of covers and interpretations from fans across the globe.
Says Adrian Mills, McCann group account director: “The latest addition to the campaign, The Official Karaoke Version, has been created to foster deeper engagement with our target audiences. We’re now allowing users to create their own renditions of the song, and thereby their own social currency, while further pushing Metro’s rail safety message virally. It demonstrates McCann’s deep understanding of what the online community is actually after.”
The success of ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ has been driven by a carefully planned digital strategy underpinning McCann’s campaign.
Says Justine Marino, McCann head of digital: “Our digital strategy leveraged the platforms most relevant to the target audience – teenagers and young adults – from the start of the campaign.
“The Tumblr page was actually created pre-launch to ensure the campaign made it onto the front page of Reddit, in order to generate a strong viral impact extremely quickly. The website, YouTube and Tumblr formed the three main campaign platforms, with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest used to generate viral effect. We also turned iTunes and Soundcloud into media vehicles for the campaign.”
The catchy tune and music video are designed to clearly capture the reality of most train accidents – they’re almost entirely preventable and would never happen if the people involved didn’t do something dumb.
The campaign aims to reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents on the Metro Trains Melbourne rail network.
Executive Creative Director: John Mescall
Writer: John Mescall
Art Director: Pat Baron
Animation: Julian Frost
Head of Digital: Justine Marino
Digital Team: Huey Groves, Christian Stocker
Group Account Director: Adrian Mills
Account Director: Alec Hussain
Senior Account Manager: Tamara Broman
Senior Producer: Mark Bradley
Producer: Cinnamon Darvall
Composer and producer: Oliver McGill
Metro Trains
Head of Corporate Communication: Leah Waymark
Stakeholder Communications Advisor: Brad Voss
Marketing Manager: Chloe Alsop
Marketing Coordinator: Philippa Jamieson
4 Comments
Please stop making me smile. It doesn’t suit me.
Great thinking I really think this is the best thing I’ve seen come out of Melbourne in 20 years.
Something to be proud of, thinking to aim for. Don’t just follow the trend.
An actual viral that’s gone viral!!!
Let the idiots kill themselves. It’s called “gene pool cleansing”. Give the drivers a medal for every idiot eliminated.
We have RAILWAY stations in Australia. Americans have treen steetions. It is people in the media who are the worst offenders, grovelling to American culture and polluting English with Americanisms. If you are so eager to show what Patriotic Australians you are use Australian language.