Ad of the Day: Artfully Chilling PSA Shows How Kids Learn Your Bad Driving Habits

The notion that kids grow up to emulate their parents' driving habits fuels "Strings," an unusual spot created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Australia's Transport Accident Commission. "Parents can't deny that their kids copy them. They see it every day in some way," agency creative director Stephen de Wolf tells AdFreak. "We just want to get into their psyches a little bit to have them question how they act behind the wheel." To convey the power of parental role models, the minimalist spot shows a boy buckled into a seat behind his father, pretending to drive. He mimics every move his dad makes—such as shouting at other motorists and checking his phone—because the two are connected by puppeteers' wires. Shot on a dark stage (and not in an actual vehicle), the vibe echoes this much-praised 2010 PSA from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership in England, which also featured mock driving. "We felt keeping the creative idea simple was right," de Wolf says. "That meant keeping it out of a normal car scenario and finding a vehicle that let us show the variety of behaviors we had to show. From there, we got to the strings-puppet visual and the stage setting." Though the set-up delivers a straightforward message—"What kind of driver are you raising?"—the filming posed some challenges. "We had six hours to shoot the 60-second spot," de Wolf recalls, "but we also had to shoot a 30-second spot. The 30-second spot isn't a cutdown, it too is a one-take, all in-camera piece. This meant two different sets of synchronized actions from both our boy and our dad, for the two different time lengths. Thankfully, our boy—in his first acting job—picked everything up very, very quickly." Some of Australia's top puppeteers "helped create the rig and kept the movements of the actors as real as possible," de Wolf adds. "We ended up with at least 20 takes for the 60-second spot alone. Out of those, only one or two had the actions perfectly synchronized and the right feel to the performances." Backed by an ominous ambient music track, the surreal ride is certainly memorable, even chilling. But one wonders if it will break though without the intense drama and upsetting imagery that often define road-safety campaigns. "After many years of shocking audiences, the Australian public have come to expect the crash, which limits its impact," says de Wolf. "We are increasingly trying to empower people to do the right thing, not berate them for doing something wrong. This is particularly true for parents, who would tend to opt out if we went the shock route, believing, 'That's not going to be me. I'm a good driver, and I know I'm a good parent.' " CREDITS Client: Transport Accident Commission Amy Cockerell: Marketing Coordinator Cherie Chandler: Marketing Project Manager Samantha Buckis: Road Safety Project Coordinator Samantha Cockfield: Senior Manager Road Safety Agency: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Luke Thompson: Senior Art Director Jim Robbins: Senior Copywriter James McGrath: Creative Chairman Ant Keogh: Executive Creative Director Stephen de Wolf: Creative Director Sharon Adams: Print Producer Sonia Von Bibra: Executive Producer: TV Karolina Bozajkovska: Senior Agency Producer: TV Steve Pratt: Retoucher Lee Simpson: Managing Partner Naomi Gorringe: Group Account Director Kate Joiner: Senior Account Manager Patrick Nally: Account Executive Matt Pearce: Planner Tomas Mankovsky: Director (Repped by Blink) Camilla Dehnert: Producer Lucinda Thompson: Designer Geoffrey Simpson: DOP/Cinematographer Elodie Fouqueau: Editor (Method) Duncan Horn: Flame Artist (Glassworks) Theodore Vidgen: Music Composer/Arranger Stephen Boniface: Photographer (Match Photography) Postproduction Company: Method Studio/Glassworks Production Company: Finch/Blink (Co Production) Paul Le Coutier: Sound Designer/Engineer Sound House: Flagstaff Special/Visual Effects" Glassworks

Brand Marketing

Ad of the Day: Artfully Chilling PSA Shows How Kids Learn Your Bad Driving Habits

Like puppets on strings

David Gianatasio

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David Gianatasio