BLINDMETERS

Short List
TitleBLINDMETERS
BrandOVK / PEVR (PARENTS OF ROAD VICTIMS)
Product/ServiceROAD SAFETY ORGANISATION
Category A13. Not-for-profit / Charity / Government
Entrant HAPPINESS BRUSSELS Brussels, BELGIUM
Idea Creation HAPPINESS BRUSSELS Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement BRIGHTFISH Brussels, BELGIUM
Media Placement 2 MEDIALAAN Vilvoorde, BELGIUM
Production LATCHO DROM Brussels, BELGIUM
Production 2 RAYGUN Brussels, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Koen Van Wonterghem PEVR - OVK (Parents of Road Victims) Managing Director
Ellen Ruys PEVR - OVK (Parents of Road Victims) Regionale Coordinator NL
Karen Corrigan Happiness / An FCB alliance Executive Creative Management
Geoffrey Hantson Happiness / An FCB alliance Chief Creative Officer
Katrien Bottez Happiness / An FCB alliance Senior Creative Coach
Roxane Schneider Happiness / An FCB alliance Concept Provider
Pieter Claeys Happiness / An FCB alliance Concept Provider
Hans Smets Happiness / An FCB alliance Group Account Director
Tine Van Hasselt Happiness / An FCB alliance Account Manager
Kris Van Wallendael Happiness / An FCB alliance Senior Digital Producer
Dries Lauwers Happiness / An FCB alliance Head of Design
Matthias Vandenbosch Happiness / An FCB alliance Editor Social Film
Simon Schuurman Happiness / An FCB alliance Editor Social film
Remke Faber Happiness / An FCB alliance Head of Motion
Sophie Gunsbourg Happiness / An FCB alliance Agency Producer
Bart Vande Maele Happiness / An FCB alliance Agency Producer
Christopher Ross-Kellam Happiness / An FCB alliance Film Director
Edouard Schneider Edsnor Typographer
Thomas Colliers BLISS Interactive Head of Technology
Yves Legrèves Latcho Drom Executive Producer
Efrosini Spanoudis Latcho Drom Producer
Jeroen Berx Latcho Drom Production Manager
Edgar Dubrovskiy Latcho Drom DOP
Stefaan gryson Moxy Owner - Online editor
Eva Segers Moxy Post Production Coordinator TVC
Joost Van Kerckhove Moxy Colour grading
Nick Read Moxy Offline editor TVC / Cinema
Peter Baert Raygun Radio Director
Jérôme Gijsen Raygun Radio Producer
Liesbeth Demolder Raygun Radio Producer
Philippe Fass Happiness / An FCB alliance Creative Director
Wesley Roeland Happiness / An FCB alliance Strategic Planner

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Data shows that people have become immune to ‘don’t text and drive’ road safety campaigns. So, a radical new and way more direct take was needed to break through the immunity. Which Is exactly what BlindMeters.com managed to do. From the very first day people and press engaged in this first of its kind long-term platform.

Background

Texting and driving is still prevalent throughout the world and a major cause of road deaths. That’s why there are still numerous road safety PSA campaigns on the subject. Unfortunately, data shows that these ‘don’t text and drive’-campaigns no longer have the impact needed to change really our behaviour. In order to change that the organization Parents of Road Victims asked us to come with a radical new take in preventing texting and driving.

Describe the creative idea

BlindMeters.com, a first of its kind platform that gives everybody concrete insight in how many meters they exactly miss when texting and driving. BlindMeters.com is geo-located and turns Google Maps into a text editor, allowing you to type on any road. A custom-made font connects to the speed limitation data of the specific road you’re typing on and stretches to the exact number of meters you miss when texting and driving. To do so we programmed an algorithm that connects different databases and layers them onto one website, together with a specially designed font made for the purpose of dynamically stretch.

Describe the strategy

Data shows that people have become immune to ‘don’t text and drive’ road safety campaigns. So, we had to make a very broad impact on all Belgian drivers, but with specific attention to the young crowd, since they not only text but also use WhatsApp, Instagram and all other channels while driving. The strategy was simple: intrigue and incite to go to the platform via broad media – TV and Cinema – and Press coverage. And create direct traffic to the BlindMeters.com via a digital connectivity plan and the power of social media.

Describe the execution

The heart of the BlindMeters.com platform is data. The algorithm uses different sources and layers them onto one website. First step was to find all those sources and use Google Maps as the main ‘visual source’ since the esthetics of the Google satellite images are most beautiful. Other data-sources allowed us to use the geometry data of the roads and the speed limits. Yet another data-sourced allowed us to type and render texts along roads on top of satellite images. And finally we create a unique way to visualize the data with a custom-designed font made with the purpose of being able to dynamically stretch to the exact number of meters you miss while texting and driving.

List the results

Data shows that people kind of became immune to the road safety ‘don’t text and drive’-campaigns. The new take on this old problem, BlindMeters.com, was able to brake that immunity from the start. People engaged. Massively. Over 5 million blind meters were typed on the platform BlindMeters.com after just 24 hours. The press immediately joined the conversation. Literally all National and Regional newspapers, all news-sites and all National TV-channels covered BlindMeters.com. Resulting in millions and millions of meters of press coverage. You can imagine the value. But this is only the start of something much bigger. In the mean-time the National Police authority is working to make BlindMeters.com an official part of the driving education of Belgian driving schools. BlindMeters.com will also extend in other European countries like France, Portugal and Slovenia soon.