Title	#CRASHTAG - HOW FRIENDS SAVE FRIENDS FROM DEADLY ACCIDENTS
Brand	DEUTSCHE VERKEHRSWACHT E.V.
Product/Service	ROAD SAFETY
Category	A07. Not-for-profit / Charity / Governemt
Entrant	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Production	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company	DEUTSCHE VERKEHRSWACHT E.V. Berlin, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Till Eckel	Jung von Matt AG	Executive Creative Director
Florian Schwalme	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Frances Rohde	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Johannes Hicks	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Ole Nagatis	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Concept Creative
Sarah Dornieden	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Art Director / Digital
Nils Frankenbach	Jung von Matt AG	Art Director / Digital
Mandy Veloso	Jung von Matt AG	Art Director
Laura Hess	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Art Diretor
Nina-Pascale Hinkelmann	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Project Manager
Praxilla Hanke	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Project Manager
Sven Schrader	Freelancer	Photographer
Matthias Henke	Freelancer	Camera Assistant
Ali Naddafi	Jung von Matt AG	Videographer
Laura Imkamp	Jung von Matt AG	Videographer
Martin Schlösser	Jung von Matt AG	Assistent Videographer

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

The Crashtag initiative succeeds where current traffic education campaigns fail as young people not only were the target group, but also its multipliers. It manages to directly engage them for a rather unpopular issue.

Background

Fatal accidents mostly happen as a result of being distracted while driving. In Germany, 80% of young drivers still use their smartphones at the wheel. But dramatic reports and serious warnings from persons of authority don’t seem to have any effect. Deutsche Verkehrswacht, Germany’s federal Road Safety Organization, asked us to finally wake up young drivers and to warn them of the high risk they’re taking.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

A powerful symbol, the ever-present memorial cross, seen all too often on roadsides all over Germany, was re-fashioned for the Instagram generation into a sharable and personalizable memorial hashtag - the Crashtag.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Checking social media status updates while driving instead of checking the road is a huge danger. Current traffic education and information campaigns keep failing to give young drivers a true wake-up call. Persons of authority don’t have enough influence to change their behavior. This is why the Crashtag initiative successfully engaged the most powerful influencers for young people on Instagram: other young people on Instagram. Thus, young people not only built the core of the campaign, but they also were multipliers for the key message: Check the road, not your phone!

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We made the Crashtag visible on city streets, country roads and Street View, but most importantly on Instagram. There, we gave young people the opportunity to send their friends a picture of a Crashtag with their names written on it. A direct and personal warning message to truly shake them up and let them know they care about their safety.

List the results (30% of vote)

Hundreds of pre-produced and personalized Crashtags, bearing the most common first names, were shared in their thousands. Even car-influencers took notice and publicly promised to put their phones away while driving. Crashtag then led to something much bigger: It officially became part of the German Police's information campaign. And they’re still using it now, both online and locally, to warn all people of one of the highest risks on the road.