Road Safety Commission launches new ‘Time with Mum’ campaign via 303 MullenLowe, Perth

How do you stop young, reckless, overconfident drivers from deliberately defying the road rules? You take away the only thing they care about – their freedom – and you hand them over to their Mothers.

‘Time with Mum’ is the new campaign by 303 MullenLowe Perth. It follows our license loser, Nate ‘Dawgg’, over 90 days of passenger seat hell with his Mum firmly in the driver’s seat. His independence, social life and even front seat status slowly evaporate after losing his license.

Directed by Tony Rogers (director of cult TV series Wilfred), 12 scenes will play out over 12 weeks to give young viewers the experience of a real-time license suspension period. Young drivers can also feel Nate’s pain through his passenger seat social posts, as well as TV, cinema, radio and an outdoor campaign to follow. The messaging will be highly targeted to demonstrate what’s at stake: ‘Lose your license, lose your love life’, or ‘Lose your license, lose your gym sesh’.

VIEW THE DAY 4 – SINGING SPOT

VIEW THE DAY 24 – INDICATOR SPOT

VIEW THE DAY 44 – GIRLFRIEND SPOT

VIEW THE DAY 67 – GRAN SPOT

LISTEN TO THE OUT OF OPTIONS SPOT

LISTEN TO THE PILATES SPOT

LISTEN TO THE WINDOW SPOT

Says Derry Simpson, managing director of strategy and innovation at 303 MullenLowe Perth: “Our brief was to target ‘risk takers’ head-on. This is a group of drivers who speed regularly and are also more inclined than others to drink drive, use their mobile phones while driving, and not wear their seatbelts. Research shows that they don’t see their risk-taking behavior as a road safety issue. They think they are bullet-proof and so are not motivated by crashing, personal injury or causing harm to others.

“But there is one consequence we unearthed that they do respond to – and that’s the fear of losing their license and, with it, their freedom.”

In launching the campaign, deputy premier and minister for road safety Liza Harvey said the campaign is a bold new approach to targeting a hard-to-reach target audience. ‘Time With Mum’ is designed to give ‘risk takers’ an insight into how their life would be impacted should they end up in Nate’s position – and in a way they can relate to.

The Road Safety Commission recently released crash figures for the first half of 2016, showing 88 deaths in Western Australia to June 30th this year – nine more than for the same period last year. Of these, 46 deaths were men aged 20 to 50.

Research shows risk-taking drivers often have the least experience on the road and the most confidence. They might be lawyers, doctors or tradies, but they’re united by a reckless attitude and a disregard of road rules.

Says Richard Berney, executive creative director at 303 MullenLowe Perth: “The horror of choreographed crash scenes has nothing on the emotional stopping power of your own mother’s taste in music. Nate is the perfect anti-hero for young drivers who crave control of their love lives, work weeks, and passenger side windows.”

Launched on Sunday 24th July, the campaign is off to a promising start with Week 1 already amassing around 140,000 views on Facebook alone.

Client: Road Safety Commission (Western Australia)

Agency Producer: Kelly Dobbin