Title	PLAY IT SAFE
Brand	VIRGIN RADIO
Product/Service	RADIO STATION
Category	B03. Use of Audio Platforms
Entrant	McCANN BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Idea Creation	McCANN BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
Media Placement	UM BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
PR	MCCANN HEALTH BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Name	Company	Position
CATALIN DOBRE	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Chief Creative Officer
LIA BIRA	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Art Director
ALEXANDRU VASILE	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Copywriter
TIBERIU MUNTEANU	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Head of AV
ALEXANDRU PLATON	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	AV Producer
PETRE BRUMA	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Head of Print
RALUCA FUNDEANU	MCCANN WORLDGROUP ROMANIA	Account Director
VICTOR CROITORU	UM ROMANIA	CEE Regional Strategy
ALINA VASILE	UM ROMANIA	Account Director
SANDINA CRISIARCU	UM ROMANIA	Planning Director
DIANA POPA	UM ROMANIA	Media Research

The Campaign

We started from a statistic of World Health Organization showing that 50% of young people expose themselves to unsafe levels of sound from personal audio devices, risking permanent hearing disorders. Play it safe – A radio broadcast innovation - We programmed an extra function into the volume button of our website that allowed our listeners to experience the symptoms of the most common hearing disorders when they turned up the volume to unsafe levels. Every time listeners pumped up volume over 70%, Tinnitus symptoms, Hyperacusis symptoms or even hearing loss took over our live broadcast and showed them what is the risk. After a few seconds, we revealed what was going on: There is nothing wrong with the radio. This is how loud music in your headphones can affect your hearing. Play it safe. Armin van Buuren, INNA, Starley, Markus Schulz, Cazzette and many others musicians created special warnings

Creative Execution

Play it Safe is an innovation of the digital broadcast of Virgin Radio Romania, created by programming an extra function into the volume button of our website. Every time listeners turned up the volume to dangerous levels, symptoms of the most common hearing disorders took over the live broadcast. Listeners could experience living life with Hyperacusis, Tinnitus or hearing loss. Then they heard the reveal: There is nothing wrong with the radio. This is how loud music in your headphones can affect your hearing. Play it safe. Virgin Radio also created special radio IDs and ARMIN VAN BUUREN, INNA, STARLEY, MARKUS SCHULZ, CAZZETTE plus other artists joined our movement and created Play it Safe warnings for their songs, activated only by unsafe volume levels. We dared people to Play it Safe on the radio, in digital, print, social media and public events – safe volume parties.

Play it Safe increased the number of unique visitors to Virgin Radio’s website by 19%, while average listening time went up by 51%. Audiences went up. Volume went down. The campaign achieved its objective to raise awareness about the danger of exposing themselves to unsafe levels of sound in headphones. It reached 17% of our target, creating 4.7 million media impressions.

Virgin Radio’s Play it Safe campaign shows a new form of using media channels for broadcasting safety messages for radio listeners. Our audience could experience directly during our digital broadcast the hearing disorders caused by high level of sounds, every time they turned up the volume to unsafe levels. Armin van Buuren, INNA, Starley, Markus Schulz, Cazzette and many others musicians created Play it Safe warnings for their songs, activated only when volume reached unsafe levels. The campaign was supported on social media, news sites, dedicated DJ talks & radio jingles during broadcasts, press and public events – safe volume

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Young people, aged 12-35, party animals, always playing music on the go is the main audience of Virgin Radio. To reach the target we used mass communication channels to bring them on the Virgin Radio website where they could experiment live the radio broadcast innovation: radio (jingles, live shows, radio promos, artists’ IDs), press, PR, online and social media. Visual warnings already exist on most devices, but people ignore them every time the turn up the volume in their headphones. Virgin Radio twisted the approach and transformed the volume button into the trigger of a totally new audio experience: living with symptoms of the most common hearing disorders caused by excessive volume in the headphones. Armin van Buuren, INNA, Starley, Markus Schulz, Cazzette and many top artists and radio personalities endorsed our campaign and dared their fans to listen to their songs at a safe level, by creating special IDs.