Hasta La Motion!

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has “Strings”, a road safety campaign emphasizing a simple fact: How a parent drives now can strongly influence how their children drive later. The campaign is based on research that shows that children start taking in their parents’ driving behaviours at an earlier age than most people would expect. This campaign marks a different approach for TAC, as ‘Strings’ does not depict a car accident or even use actual cars. Instead, characters are portrayed on a dark stage, with puppet strings representing the influence a parent has over their child’s future driving behaviour. The campaign includes TV, OOH, print, digital, social and radio.

Samantha Buckis, TAC Road Safety Project Co-ordinator, says ‘Strings’ needed to find a way to empower parents to reflect on their own behaviour.

“Every time a parent gets behind the wheel, their children are watching their behaviour, both good and bad. By the time a child goes for their driving licence, their attitudes on the road have already started to form,” Buckis said.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Creative Director Stephen de Wolf says the shoot was a highly complex operation.

“We designed an intricate rig that linked our father and son, with professional puppeteers directing our talent. The 60- and 30-second spots were filmed in single takes, so we required a perfectly timed and synchronised performance from both of them,” de Wolf said.

Credits

The What Kind of Driver campaign was developed at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne by creative chairman James McGrath, executive creative director Ant Keogh, creative director Stephen de Wolf, senior copywriter Jim Robbins, senior art director Luke Thompson, print producer Sharon Adams, executive TV producer Sonia Von Bibra, senior agency TV producer Karolina Bozajkovska, retoucher Steve Pratt, managing partner Lee Simpson, group account director Naomi Gorringe, senior account manager Kate Joiner, account executive Patrick Nally, and TAC marketing coordinator Amy Cockerell, marketing project manager Cherie Chandler, road safety project coordinator Samantha Buckis and senior manager for road safety Samantha Cockfield.

Filming was shot by director Tomas Mankovsky via Blink Productions and Finch with producer Camilla Dehnert, director of photography Geoffrey Simpson, designer Lucinda Thomson, music composer/arranger Theodore Vidgen, match photographer Steven Boniface.

Editor was Elodie Fouqueau at Method Studios. Visual effects were produced at Glassworks by Flame artist Duncan Horn. Sound was produced at Flagstaff Studios by sound designer/engineer Paul Le Couteur.