2023 Winners
International and Region 2
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
Safe Driving is Something We Can All Live With Campaign
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) received federal grant funding to develop new creative assets for a statewide multimedia highway safety campaign in 2022. DMV was determined to develop a concept that employed humor to successfully reach young males, a demographic at high risk of unsafe driving behaviors and at times unresponsive to traditional “scare” tactics. DMV debuted the “Safe Driving is Something We Can All Live With” video series in August 2022 on social media, streaming services, cable television, and video-equipped gas station pumps across Virginia. The campaign is a series of four spots which compare outrageous behaviors people would never combine, such as texting in the ring during an MMA fight or jumping out of a plane without buckling your parachute, with just-as-dangerous behind-the-wheel activities people undertake every day, like texting while driving. Topics covered include speed, drunk driving, and distracted driving prevention as well as seat belt safety. The one-month campaign premiered to great success. A post-campaign evaluation survey found that 20% of the target audience, males 18 to 34, recalled the campaign tagline – a superb stat for a first-run campaign. A $276,999 media buy resulted in almost 9.5 million impressions across multimedia platforms – a significant return on investment. DMV is so pleased with the results of the “Safe Driving is Something We Can All Live With campaign,” it is already planning short-term and long-term campaigns using the existing creative assets.
Region 1
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles
Slow Down NY Billboard
In New York, unsafe speed was a contributing factor in 356 fatal crashes in 2021, compared to 317 fatal crashes in 2020 — a 12 percent increase. The billboard is of a pedestrian crash scene. In focus is a single shoe in the road and further away is a person on ground with police investigating the scene. The text accompanying this image says, “Slow Down NY! Drive Safe, Not Fast.” This sobering image is intended to catch motorists’ attention and remind them to drive responsibly. This billboard campaign is up at 300 different locations in both metropolitan and rural areas across the state and 3 digital billboards in the Albany area. This campaign ran from June 20 through December 4. Roadside billboards were chosen for this campaign because 100% of motorists on New York roads are the target audience. In other words, there is zero wasted circulation with this campaign. The effectiveness for this campaign will be based on crash data available next year.
Region 3
North Dakota Department of Transportation
Choices – Impaired Driving
“Choices” is an impaired driving TV ad that features Shayna Monson from Dickinson, North Dakota. Shayna shares her story of survival to deter others from driving impaired. The crash took away so much from so many, but Shayna is determined to let her story be a reminder to drivers to always drive sober or find a sober ride. On June 27, 2015, Shayna was the sober driver for two of her friends in Bismarck, North Dakota when her vehicle was hit head on by an impaired driver going the wrong way. The crash was so severe that Shayna’s passengers were killed instantly, and Shayna was critically injured. She was given a 10% chance of survival but after months of hospital stays and physical therapy, Shayna was able to return home. She and her family are living a “new normal” but continue to tell their story in hopes of preventing this tragedy in the future. Shayna and her mom invited NDDOT and a camera crew into their home to shoot a very personal and up-close look at their day-to-day life. The final ad shows Shayna prior to the crash, a promising pre-med student, followed by her life post-crash and how hard it is for her to complete everyday tasks. Although the ad contains very heavy subject matter, it shows how much of an inspiration Shayna is as she smiles throughout the video. The ad ends with a straightforward and powerful message from Shayna, “always drive sober or find a sober ride.”
Region 4
Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles
DMV Recruiting Video
Staff recruiting and retention is a priority for most employers as high turnover rates continue to adversely impact operations. Facing the problem directly, the Colorado DMV took a proactive approach that included a careers webpage on the DMV website, a weekly internal jobs listing email, and an externally-produced recruiting video. The recruiting video was the keystone of the DMV’s recruiting efforts being used as a marketing piece on social media, the DMV website, and at career fairs. The video was an entire DMV team effort with over 15 frontline staff members from all across the state volunteering to spend 10 hours on a Saturday to add authenticity and fun to the recruiting video. All but 3 people in the video were DMV staff or family members. The video was shot on location at the Westgate Driver License Office in Lakewood and highlights all the ways being on team DMV is great, including 11 holidays, paid vacation, retirement, stability, and of course, helping save lives by registering organ and tissue donors. The video was released in DMViews, the Colorado DMV’s internal newsletter, in May 2022. The video helped propel DMViews to one of its highest open and click through rates of the year, 87% and 14% respectively. The video uses clean, modern video editing techniques to craft a polished package that perfectly articulates why it’s great to be on our team.