CHALLENGE
THE
Diageo, as part of their Society 2030 strategy, committed to educating 5 million people on the dangers of drinking and driving by 2030.
This was a challenge which couldn't be solved using an awareness campaign, they wanted to really engage with their target audience, so that the message resonated and changed attitudes.
Psychological research has found that PSA campaigns which play on audiences’ fears in order to change behaviours are often seen as irrelevant and lacking in credibility in the eyes of the consumer.
So rather than tell people about the dangers of drink driving, we had to find a way to show them this critical difference between driving sober and driving after a few drinks.
AUDIENCE
THE
NHTSA data shows that younger, male drivers are far more likely to be involved in alcohol-impaired crashes compared to the general US population.
INSIGHT
THE
Most individuals involved in alcohol-related driving accidents will have known beforehand that drink-driving is dangerous, but alcohol impairs our critical faculties, making it difficult to accurately judge our driving abilities.
This insight shaped our strategy: ‘The best driving decisions are made when sober’
We needed an innovative approach that our younger and predominantly male audience would want to lean in and engage with. Rather than playing on their fears, we turned to gaming, one of their most widely held interests, to help create an immersive & lasting impression before they even set foot in a bar.
​​​
Enter: Sober vs Drink Driving
BIG IDEA
THE
SOBER VS DRINK DRIVING
A series of five mini games highlighting the difference between driving sober and driving under the influence. Each game allows players to test key driving skills such as their attention levels, reaction times and braking speeds and shows you just how much your performance is negatively affected after a few drinks.
EXECUTION
THE
As audience members play our 5 games, a ‘phantom’ player demonstrates, in real time, how well the player would perform if they’d consumed 2-3 drinks before driving; allowing players to experience a drunk body’s driving abilities but with a sober mind.
After each game, players see a summary of their results as well as the much poorer results of their 'drunk self'. The game’s design, inspired by futuristic racing games and films like Tron, uses bright, simple graphics to intentionally focus the player on the critical difference between their performance and that of their modelled ‘drunk self’.
Since the game’s launch in December 2023, Sober vs Drink Driving is live in 9 markets across 5 different languages.
We've also created a physical home for the game in The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, visited by 1.5 million people each year. Our initial pilot of 5 tablets on podiums has been so successful that this is being expanded to a dedicated area for the gaming experience to live within the world’s number 1 tourist destination.
To encourage safe decisions after drinking, we also partnered with Uber Korea to offer $65,000 in Uber vouchers to those who completed the game, promoting the use of rideshares over drink-driving after an evening out.
RESULTS
THE
245,000
site visits since December 2023 primarily through organic discovery
40%
of players had their attitudes positively shifted around the acceptability of driving after drinking
1.1M
impressions generated from our partnership with Uber in Korea
