NZTA Waka Kotahi calls time on drink driving excuses in ‘Booze Maths’ campaign via FCB NZ

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is targeting the self-talk and rationalisations that lead New Zealanders to drive after drinking with its latest campaign, ‘Booze Maths’ by FCB Aotearoa.

Informed by contradicting insights that show how 95% of people in New Zealand say drink driving is bad; yet drink driving is one of the leading contributors to deaths and serious injuries on our roads. The campaign plays on the mental calculations people make – balancing drinks with food, water and time – to convince themselves they are fine to drive.

The spot follows a man in a pub as he heads to the bathroom at the end of the night. As he opens the door, he is confronted with an accountant in a cubicle questioning the logic and ‘calculations’ he’s used to rationalise driving home.

Delivered in a dark-humorous style, Booze Maths highlights that even though there are many ways we can talk ourselves into driving after a drink; it’s never worth the risk.

Says Emma Hartley, Marketing and Content Manager at NZTA: “In the 12 months to September this year, drink driving contributed to 403 deaths and serious injuries on our roads. As we head into the festive season, all over the country New Zealanders will be rationalising their decision to drive home after drinking. We hope this campaign will spark conversations about this behaviour and help more people think differently about their decisions while drinking.”

Says Matt Kingston, Chief Strategy Officer at FCB Aotearoa: “It’s easy for people to opt out of messages like this, so we wanted to find a behaviour that all Kiwis could recognise in either themselves or the social settings they find themselves in.  We were taken aback by the sheer prevalence of ‘drink drive strategies’ across so many audience groups.  Strategies that may sound smart and science-y, but are actually just the warning signs for a potentially fatal decision.

“So rather than targeting an audience segment, we focused on the dangerous moments that lead to drink driving – the conversations you have with yourself under the influence where, almost without meaning to, you can talk yourself into drink driving.”

Says Leisa Wall, Chief Creative Officer of FCB Aotearoa: “‘Booze Maths’ feels like a really sticky way to describe something we’ve all seen but never really had a name for. And once you name it, you spot it everywhere. When your mate fires off one of those classic lines, you suddenly have this little piece of language to call it out without coming across all finger-waggy.

“We always knew humour had to lead the way. No one listens to a telling-off, so we wanted it to feel like the kind of chat you’d actually have with yourself or your mates. And with the help of the audacious Max Barden, the Sweetshop team and our cast, we found that sweet spot of delivering a cheeky, honest, and very Kiwi campaign.”

The campaign will run across social, online, broadcast, out of home and tactical print activations in bars across New Zealand from 30 November.

Client:  NZTA – Waka Kotahi

Agency: FCB Aotearoa
Chief Creative Officer: Leisa Wall
Snr Art Director: Kat Tadaki
Snr Copywriter: Claire Herselman
Senior Producer: Amanda Langkilde/Elizabeth Roebeck/Marijana Jugum
Chief Strategy Officer: Matt Kingston
Senior Strategist: Amy Pollok
Group Business Director: Daine Kingma
Account Director: Ande Spencer

Production Company: Sweetshop
Director: Max Barden
MD/Executive Producer: Ben Dailey
Executive Producer: Jimena Murray
DOP: Marty Williams
Offline editor: Simon Price
Colourist: Alana Cotton
Online: Stu Bedford
Sound Design: Liquid Studios
Audio Engineer: Andy Morton
Stills photographer: Michael Braid/FCB
Retouching: Alex Reznick

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