Drive dry campaign underlines consequences

"The rationale behind this latest 45-second commercial comes after an online survey conducted by brandhouse on News24, which showed that 88% of South African's said fear of arrest deters them from drunk driving," says FoxP2 creative director, Justin Gomes. "Our thought behind the commercial was therefore to show what would happen if you ended up in prison for drunk driving."

Andrew Whitehouse, FoxP2 creative director, adds, "We felt the only way to illustrate the severity of this was to use real-life people, not actors and put them in an environment that reflected the reality and demographics of South African prisons.

Extensive research done

"During our street casting process we found people who had actually served time in prison and are now reformed, leading normal lives. We did several workshops with them and developed the script based on their experiences and the dialogue they came up with in the process. We also did extensive research by looking at photographs taken inside various prisons and watching documentary clips on prison life to make the environment look and feel as close to a real prison as possible.

"In South Africa, approximately 6,000 people are killed per year by drunk drivers, we hope to help change this figure by showing these chilling visuals and content."

Gomes and Whitehouse say that the commercial really brings home the message to the viewers', showing them the reality that the last road block they encountered may have had a completely different outcome. "Many people believe that drunk driving doesn't make them a bad person so it was only fitting that we then showed consumers the possible consequences of their actions, including ending up in prison with genuinely bad people."

Conceptualised by FoxP2 art director Ryan Barkhuizen and copywriters Mimi Cooper and Simon Lotze, the ad was shot by director Robin Goode.

"We have done a number of commercials and activations for the Drive Dry initiative and each time the awareness is not only raised around this issue but we begin to meet the client's strategic objectives of changing consumer behaviour," concludes MD, Charl Thom.