2026 Winners

International and Region 1

Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec 

Speeding Awareness Campaign  

For its 2025 speeding awareness campaign, the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) chose to make a lasting impression by appealing to emotion. Rather than showing images of accidents, the campaign speaks directly to drivers’ sensitivity through a moving story: that of a creative and innovative child who imagines an unusual solution to a still-too-common problem—speeding. At the end of the message, viewers discover that the child was himself a victim of a road accident. 

Broadcast from June 2 to 29, 2025, on traditional French-language TV channels and web TV, and rebroadcast from August 25 to September 7, the campaign captured public attention with its human tone and universal message. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness among all drivers about the importance of respecting speed limits, especially in residential and school zones, where life meets the road. Even small instances of speeding, often seen as harmless, can have tragic consequences—particularly in areas frequented by vulnerable road users like children. Thanks to its colorful and emotional storytelling, the advertisement was warmly received by the public. Many viewers praised the SAAQ for its sensitive and impactful approach, which encourages genuine reflection on our driving behaviors.

Region 2

Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles

Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign  

Beginning in January 2025, OMV launched new roadside digital billboards aimed to inform drivers about the signs of human trafficking and provide them with information on how to report it. Recognizing the importance of visibility ahead of the Super Bowl in Louisiana, our team prioritized strong placement in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We collaborated with partners to secure digital panels throughout the entire week of Super Bowl LIX. These billboard placements in and around New Orleans generated over 842K impressions at key congestion areas the week of the big game.

Visibility and impressions surged as visitors continued to travel to New Orleans and other Louisiana cities for Mardi Gras. From January 27, 2025, to March 31, 2025, the OMV Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign garnered over 73M impressions from digital billboards, video geofencing, gas pump television ads, Meta ads, and other platforms.

Additionally, during Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January, OMV implemented and participated in several initiatives focused on raising awareness of the heinous crime of human trafficking and how it can be prevented. On January 13, OMV participated in National Wear Blue Day, a day dedicated to wearing blue, the international color of human trafficking awareness, in order to bring attention to the terrible act of human trafficking.

OMV also launched whenyoususpect.com in December 2024, a website that educates residents on the signs of human trafficking and how to report it, as well as resources for victims of human trafficking. The website is the cornerstone of OMV’s campaign to combat human trafficking.

Additionally, OMV’s campaign reached millions of motorists in Louisiana through billboards across the state, a public service announcement, gas station signage, and printed materials.

Region 3

Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Division of State Patrol 

Buckle Up Phone Down 

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) launched the Buckle Up Phone Down (BUPD) campaign in 2021, calling attention to growing challenges contributing to crashes in Wisconsin. Wearing a seat belt and putting the phone down while driving are two of the easiest steps to keep people safe while traveling. The campaign evolved over the years, leveraging partnerships with organizations, drivers, public influencers, schools, and municipalities to create awareness and engagement.

WisDOT completed a research study in 2024 that surveyed Wisconsinites on awareness of the agency's safety media campaigns. The researchers found 67% of respondents were more likely to be influenced by crash victim stories than a safety reminder. Based on this, WisDOT set out to improve distracted driving PSAs and select strategies that better resonate with the audience.

In 2025, WisDOT launched two new BUPD PSAs featuring a real family devastated by a distracted driver on Wisconsin’s roads. The planning process took a lot of thoughtful consideration to find a local story that would have the biggest impact and a family willing to tell it. In the end, the husband/father and sister/aunt shared powerful stories of the impacts of unsafe driving. Through careful work with the family, they felt comfortable sharing their raw emotions on-camera in hopes of making a difference.

BUPD: More Than a Number

Victims of distracted driving crashes are more than just a number. Featuring the real story of someone from a local community in Wisconsin whose wife, son, and unborn child were killed by a distracted driver.

BUPD: More Than One Casualty

When a life is lost on the road, it doesn’t affect one person—it ripples through families, friends, and entire communities.

WisDOT partnered with Discover Wisconsin, a travel and tourism television program, to get the videos out to those who frequently travel Wisconsin’s roads. Discover Wisconsin platforms reach millions of viewers through network, cable, and satellite stations, and through digital presence across various platforms, including the DW+ App, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more. Discover Wisconsin placed ads on television networks across the state, posted organically on their social media pages, and placed a Meta paid ad using the new videos.

WisDOT worked through a marketing agency to place the PSAs on digital platforms in June 2025. WisDOT is driving organic reach by posting the PSAs on WisDOT and Wisconsin State Patrol social media, emailing the videos and a communication toolkit with over 5,000 emergency management partners and schools to easily share the message, and sharing on monitors in Wisconsin DMVs.

The long-term goal was to also find a spokesperson who could advocate for ending distracted driving. We found that with the family in these videos. WisDOT is currently working with the family to identify public speaking engagements where they will have the platform to tell their story and impact a greater audience. They completed their first engagement in August 2025 at the Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Highway Safety, alongside Donald Driver, who spoke about the Click It or Ticket seat belt campaign.

Region 4

Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles

DMV Wherever UFO Advertising 

As part of the “DMV Wherever” campaign, the Nevada DMV is encouraging its customers to complete their transactions online to avoid lines and in-person office trips. Rapid Registration is one of the products that was rolled out as part of the DMV’s transformation effort and a catchy ad campaign was needed to help educate the public and work on changing their behavior.

With Rapid Registration, drivers with vehicles purchased from an out-of-state dealer or private party, and received as a gift, as well as new residents to Nevada are eligible to register their vehicle online, thereby avoiding an office visit. Customers who were used to bringing in a postcard to renew their registration and walk out with a piece of paper and a sticker would need to be convinced that clicking on a link online and waiting for their registration to come in the mail would be an easier process. 

The DMV’s advertising agency, Pulsar Advertising, was given this task to create a simplified message and help the DMV broadcast it to get the public’s attention. The eight-word advertisement that Pulsar came up with was not only brilliant, exhibiting exactly what message the DMV was trying to deliver, but it also garnered a ton of attention and drove up the project numbers in a short time span when the ad ran. The advertisement included a picture of a UFO with the headline, “Now register almost any vehicle online – DMV Wherever.” It was a perfect fit for Nevada that features Area 51 in a little town called Rachel, where many government conspiracy theories start being spread about crashed UFOs being secretly housed there. The ad also poked a little fun at the DMV while sending a powerful message to Nevadans to use the DMV’s online services. 

The Rapid Registration advertising campaign delivered a strong overall performance, generating 3.8 million total impressions across all Nevada media channels. Digital efforts accounted for 595,000 impressions, while outdoor advertising contributed an additional 1,722,538 impressions, including 457,396 bonus impressions that extended campaign visibility. Facebook led in total impressions, effectively building awareness and reaching a broad audience. Google drove the highest volume of clicks and website visits, reflecting strong user intent and engagement with the campaign message. In total, the campaign generated 183,000 clicks and achieved an impressive 11.48 percent click-through rate, resulting in 867,000 page visits and more than 2,000 social media engagements. From a project standpoint, more Rapid Registration transactions were completed when the ad campaign began on August 18, 2025. Completed applications were 2,104 in April; 2,330 in May; 2,396 in June; 2,621 in July; and 2,948 in August. September increased substantially to 3,989 after the advertising started to resonate with the public. Overall, the campaign successfully combined reach and performance—balancing awareness through outdoor and social placements with high-quality traffic from Google—to deliver measurable results across platforms. The “DMV Wherever” campaign will continue to encourage Nevadans to go online, instead of standing in-line at the DMV.