Two Cents

We all know about the major players when it comes to road fatalities -- speed and drink driving, even seatbelts. But one of the biggest (silent) killers on our roads is fatigue, and tired drivers are the latest target of BCM’s new road safety campaign.

Launched this week, our campaign for Department of Transport and Main Roads titled ‘Wake up to the signs’ is a timely reminder for us all to recognise the signs of driver fatigue.

Deemed one of the ’safe’ behaviours because it doesn’t technically involve breaking the law, driver fatigue unfortunately claims too many lives. Last year alone, fatigue played a role in 44 deaths on Queensland roads.

In our new campaign we ask motorists to recognise the signs of fatigue (tired eyes, yawning, loss of concentration, drowsiness, blurred vision) and pull over to take a break or swap drivers if they can.

Let’s face it, we all have our own tricks that we do to keep ourselves awake behind the wheel. I’m sure we’ve all stocked up on coffee or cola for that strong caffeine hit, wound down the windows or blasted the air con to keep us alert, and even cranked up the music really loud so we don’t drift off.

Unfortunately these are all myths in combating fatigue. In reality while they may mask the tiredness for a while, the effects are only temporary and they won’t cure the tiredness for long.

The most common reasons we use for driving tired are: I just want to get home, I’ll keep going a bit longer, I’m not really that tired, I’m so close I’ll just keep going, I’m a good driver I can handle this… and so on.

We’re so time-poor these days that we’re willing to push through the tiredness just to make it to our destination, wherever that may be.

We ask drivers to think of the things that ‘keep them going’ as these are the reasons they should avoid driving tired. Whether it is family, friends or loved ones we all have a reason to drive safe. If not for your own life, to do it for those we care most about and who rely on us to be there.

Pamela Olah is an Account Manager at BCM Brisbane

BCM’s Share My Story social media campaign developed for the Department of Transport and Main Roads came home a winner at today’s AMI Qld Awards for Marketing Excellence held at the Sofitel Hotel.

Share My Story takes an innovative approach to social marketing.  The sharemystory.qld.gov.au website is designed to humanise the road toll by highlighting the impact road trauma can have on friends, family and loved ones, as well as the wider community via people sharing their stories.

We believe it’s the world’s first social networking website developed for a Government department.

Share My Story was awarded in both the Social Marketing and Multimedia/Interactive categories.

Additionally, BCM’s brisbanetimes.com.au relaunch campaign was a Finalist in the Brand Revitalisation category of today’s Qld Awards, and BCM’s campaign to recruit more Foster Carers for the Department of Communities’ Child Safety Services was also a Finalist in the Social Marketing category.

It was also announced that another two BCM campaigns are Finalists in the AMI National Marketing Excellence Awards being held in October.

Sunny Queen Natural Grain Cage Free campaign is a Finalist in the New Product/Service Launch category and Paul’s Zymil campaign for Parmalat Australia is a national Finalist in the Brand Revitalisation category.

Share My Story will also go on to compete in the AMI National Awards.

Well done to everyone at BCM who was involved in the campaigns.  Happy clients and happy team.  What more could you ask for?

Kate Holloway is a Marketing Executive at BCM Brisbane.

We’re delighted to announce we have two Finalists in this year’s inaugural 2009 Australian Effie Awards.

The Effie Awards are an internationally-renowned awards competition, originally inaugurated by the New York chapter of the American Marketing Association back 1968.  The prestigious Gold Effie is recognized as one of the pre-eminent awards in the advertising industry – celebrating the great ideas that achieve real results and the strategy that goes into creating them.  It’s all about honouring one of the most significant achievements in advertising and marketing communications: ‘effectiveness’. Something we wholeheartedly embrace here at BCM!

Replacing the Advertising Federation of Australia’s bi-annual Effectiveness Awards and the Queensland CREAM Awards, this year marks the first time the Aussie Effies, presented jointly by the AFA and the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), have been held.

A total of 131 entries were received from 48 advertising agencies and clients across 16 categories. 81 entries have progressed to the Finalist stage.  We made the shortlist with two Finalists out of our total of three campaigns submitted.  So not a bad effort you’d have to say!

BCM’s two nominations are for the ‘Share My Story’ campaign for Queensland Transport (in the Best State Campaign category):

And ‘Preservative Free Chilled Juice’ campaign for Golden Circle (in the New Product category):

Both will continue in the next stages of the judging process occurring between now and August – with the winners announced on the 27th August.

Fingers crossed!

QUT (a long-standing BCM client) has won plenty of awards in its time, but who would’ve thought it could lay claims to a Logie. Its well-known branding line, A University For The Real World, strutted its stuff on the red carpet at Melbourne’s Crown Casino last Sunday.

To fill you in, Gyton Grantley, the star of the first Underbelly series, is a QUT drama graduate. He won the Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his portrayal of Melbourne gangster Carl Williams (the best Aussie crime character since Eric Bana’s Chopper). He even thanked QUT in his acceptance speech:

Some of us spotted the talents of Gyton Grantley early. He appeared in early QUT TV commercials while still a student (OK, so he was cheap). But we’ll claim his discovery anyway. Keep a close eye out for the man in the sharp suit in the elevator towards the end of the ad:

Whatever your opinion of the Logies, Underbelly was a groundbreaking series and Grantley is a quality actor. His success is a great testament to QUT and its promise of success in the real world. If you don’t agree, we’ll send Carl around to your house.

Update: Turns out Gyton featured in a couple of other advertisements we did for Queensland Transport some years ago. You can see him towards the end of both of these ads. They’re both hard-hitting and emotional ads, but they do give an insight into Gyton’s ability for his future role in Aussie dramas:

Queensland Transport “Negatives”

Queensland Transport “Slow Down”

This week BCM was invited to speak at the AIMIA Digital Government Summit in Canberra. We presented as a case study, the work we have done for Queensland Transport’s successful Share My Story initiative.

Share My Story is a communication strategy designed to humanise the road toll by allowing those affected by road trauma to share their personal stories with others on a custom built social network site. In addition to posting stories, people can click on and show their support, post comments and thank people who have made contributions.

The site and the thinking behind it is a first of its kind for any Road Safety authority anywhere in the world. An integrated campaign which included TV, press, online video, publicity and media relations, SEM and social media, was used to let people know about the site around the state.

Results to date have been amazing with over 35,000 unique visitors to the site in the first 3 months. Average time spent on the site is an amazing 12 minutes with on average 16 pages visited. There are over 5,000 registered site supporters.

Consumers have now gone on to share the word in their own Facebook and Twitter communities.

We are very proud of the work we have done in partnership with Queensland Transport to elicit attitudinal and behavioural change amongst Queensland drivers. To see a PDF file of the full presentation, click here (8MB).

The web has never made it easier to share stories and connect with people who have common interests and experiences. It’s this thinking that led to the development of our latest campaign for Queensland Transport. The ‘Share My Story’ campaign and website is designed to encourage people to tell their personal stories about the lasting impact of road crashes. In addition to posting stories people can click on and show their support as well as thank people who have made contributions.
The site and the thinking behind it is a first of its kind for any Road Safety authority anywhere in the world.
TV and press advertising is being used throughout the state to let people know about the site.
Although launched less than 24 hours ago, on average a new person is logging on every 20 seconds. Please visit at sharemystory.qld.gov.au and tell us what you think.

BCM is very proud to be launching Queensland Transport’s latest anti-speeding campaign, Slow Down Stupid. This is the first in a series of TVCs that you will see on Queensland TVs over the next few years.

Slow Down Stupid was born of a desire to marginalise speeders by making it less socially acceptable. Far too often some drivers see speeding as a way to impress their peers and enhance their self image. The campaign sets out to counter the (perceived) emotional benefits of speeding and demonstrate the consequences that can result.

This first TVC is specifically aimed at getting young men to slow down by making them think about the consequences -- which could be as terrible as being responsible for killing their girlfriend. It encourages them to contemplate the nightmare of losing their partner to something as stupid as speeding.