Dumb Ways to Die: Viral Campaign Revolutionizes Train Safety Awareness
The 'Dumb Ways to Die' campaign used a viral song and multimedia to promote train safety, achieving a 21% reduction in accidents and deaths.
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Best Marketing Campaigns of the Last Decade 2010 - 2020 - Digital Uncovered
Added on 10/01/2024
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Speaker 1: Young people don't listen to public safety messages, so how do you get them to stop being unsafe around trains?

Speaker 2: By making it the Dumbest Way To Die.

Speaker 1: A song was written called Dumb Ways To Die. It was released as a YouTube video and within a week had over 20 million views, and within six weeks over 40 million views. Gift sharing from our dedicated Tumblr site generated huge and immediate viral effect and helped the campaign stay on the front page of Reddit for two days after the launch. Within days, Dumb Ways To Die became the world's most shared video. The song was released on iTunes and climbed the charts in over 20 countries, and in some countries even making the top 10. Awareness went through the roof, but we had to get people to change their behaviour. So every element of the campaign directly drove people to pledge to be safe around trains. Nearly a million people took the pledge on our website. The little book of Dumb Ways To Die got kids to pledge at the website. Outdoor advertising, designed to generate Instagram-friendly content, got people to promise to be safe. And a smartphone game also got people to make the promise. The results? People adopted the message like never before. Over 200 cover versions and parodies were made and shared in the millions. Schools started using it as a teaching tool in classrooms. Dumb Ways To Die became the most shared and most viral public service campaign in history. And most important of all, the Metro has seen a 21% reduction in accidents and deaths, compared to the same time last year.

Speaker 2: So many dumb, so many dumb ways to die.

Speaker 3: Be safe around trains, a message from Metro.

Speaker 4: This is a hook from the new Volvo FMX, made of cast iron and it holds up to 32 togs.

Speaker 5: This means 300mm ground clearance, just a little bit more than my head.

Speaker 6: Today is the ultimate test of a steering system. You will see a hamster steering a truck from the bottom of this quarry to the top.

Speaker 7: And who can say if your love grows as your heart shows? Only time. We are dying, we are dying.

Speaker 8: We are dying, we are dying. All my little plans and schemes, lost like some forgotten dream. Seems like all I really was doing, was waiting for you. Just like little girls and boys, playing with their little toys.

Speaker 9: Seems like all we really were doing, was waiting for love.

Speaker 7: Don't need to be alone, don't need to be alone. It's real love, it's real love, it's real love, it's real love. It's real love, it's real love, it's real love, it's real love, it's real love, it's real love.

Speaker 5: The biggest one, the one that people look forward to is the John Lewis ad.

Speaker 9: John Lewis ad that's first airing on Friday.

Speaker 10: The amount of people that have spoken to me saying they want a little Monty. Idiots. The biggest cyber security threat facing most businesses isn't from their computers. It's from their printers. And surprisingly, the IT managers of most businesses have no idea. But rather than telling them about all of the dangers, we created a dramatic, episodic short film series to show them called The Wolf.

Speaker 9: Time to eat.

Speaker 10: As The Wolf, actor Christian Slater plays a hacker who shows us just how easy it is to bring down a company by exploiting their vulnerable printers.

Speaker 9: I love a good office party. Everyone looks so happy. Especially Janice. I thought everybody would forget her birthday.

Speaker 7: Not me.

Speaker 9: Look Janice, I just got an email. What's that? A gift certificate from your favorite spa to honor the big day? How thoughtful. Now all you gotta do is print it. Come on Janice. It's legit. You just gotta print it out. Come on. We all know you love a good foot rub. That's it. Now I have access to every computer on the network.

Speaker 10: Chosen for his large following in the IT community from his role in Mr. Robot, a cyber security themed TV show, Slater was ideal for the role because of his credibility with our audience. I'm Mr. Vice President of blah blah blah and my life is ruined.

Speaker 9: Fuck.

Speaker 10: Throughout the series, everyday business happenings turn ominous as The Wolf hacks his unsuspecting victims. First on Wall Street, where he used unprotected printers to steal sensitive documents from an investment bank. Bingo. And exposed all the secrets of a high profile merger. Then he turned his sights to the healthcare world as he stole information on millions of patients by hacking a hospital.

Speaker 9: This thing is like a suit.

Speaker 10: To ensure the credibility of the story, we worked with former Black Hat hackers to come up with the hacks and malware code. After making our audience aware of their printer security problems, we presented HP's solution by creating The Fixer starring Jonathan Banks.

Speaker 11: Apparently there's some character out there who calls himself The Wolf. But if you ask me, wolves are just dogs who haven't been housebroken.

Speaker 10: Instead of coming with the intention to hack and tear down, The Fixer comes to repair and rebuild with HP products that will prevent future attacks. Our job was to open the eyes of IT pros and get them to see how vulnerable their company might be. To do it, we knew HP needed more than a typical boring B2B campaign. So instead, we created authentic, emotional human stories based on IT insights.

Speaker 12: Someone is stealing all of our medical records from all of our hospitals and you don't know where the hell Todd is?

Speaker 10: I love a good mystery. Don't you? The films were promoted on major social channels and lived on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, IT sites, and a branded microsite. Paid media promoted the films around the world, including paid social, partnerships with leading IT security news sites, social posts from Slater, and a massive PR push. We even used The Wolf and The Fixer to amplify relevancy at top security events so that HP remained top of mind when it came to printer security.

Speaker 9: Why am I exposing one of the financial world's most important secrets? Because I can.

Speaker 10: The campaign created a conversation around printer security where there wasn't one before. Who knows? Maybe next time I'll come after yours. By showing the IT community that nothing is safe if their printers aren't HP secure.

Speaker 13: And the problem is this. Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world.

Speaker 14: Women are making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world. Today is International Women's Day and one Wall Street firm is marking the occasion by placing this statue. A little girl staring down the iconic charging bull. The new image was put up by State Street Global Advisors. A powerful little girl.

Speaker 1: Defiant. Understanding women's daily experience of having to face a ton of bull.

Speaker 14: There's certain values like diversity that have a return. The fact that the industry has acknowledged this fund is quite important.

Speaker 3: The most famous girl in all of New York City. People young and old are flocking to her. The fearless girl on Wall Street has already made a lasting impression.

Speaker 14: The hottest selfie in town still. As she's become a social media phenomenon fearless girl has also become a broader symbol of female empowerment. 19,000

Speaker 1: 25,000 28,000 30,000 people have already signed a petition to keep the statue here longer.

Speaker 14: The fearless girl will be allowed to remain at her post.

Speaker 8: This statue has crystallized this moment in history.

Speaker 3: My generation fought for the women of today. So that little girl is saying a lot.

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