It’s been one of the smartest campaigns of the year – unless you mute the commercials. Wellington creative agency, Clemenger BBDO launched Thoughts in February – a ‘flexible content’ series for the New Zealand Transport Agency aimed at stoner drivers.
The visual story follows two young guys driving home after a ‘session’ in the afternoon. The driver is stoned and he’s compensating and trying really hard to remain focused on the road but his mind wanders and chaos unfolds. In Thoughts – none of the characters talk.
Clemenger BBDO’s Executive Creative Director, Brigid Alkema, says “Thoughts is a blank canvas; a flexible piece of content, purposely designed for people to now play with. We’ve invited comedians to write and voice what’s going on in their wandering minds to animate the series. Every time you see it, you’ll hear something different – from straight out nonsense to something topical happening in NZ or around the world.”
It’s got longevity too. Clemenger says the stoner ads will run for another year.
Continuing on from the award-winning work of Blazed and Tinnyvision, Thoughts shows what can go wrong on the road when your mind is affected by drugs says NZTA Principal Advisor, Rachel Prince.
“As a nation we’ve bought the message not to drink then drive, but many Kiwis are complacent about the effects of driving stoned. We want to help Kiwis make the right decision not to drive after taking drugs. The ad is based on insight that people think driving stoned isn’t a big deal because they can compensate for being a bit slow by driving more slowly and carefully.”
Brigid said the agency didn’t want to stereotype stoners:
“There’s no one ‘stoner’ audience so the idea of creating different personas voiced by a range of comedians lets us reflect many different audiences, with the core truth relatable to all.”
See the comedian voice overs below.
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