Topless girls make young men think about speed – all over the world!
It started as an experiment. In 2006, the Danish Road Safety Council released its first viral campaign film in cyber space. Now it should turn out if a small movie with topless girls waving speed boards could make people think about their speed.
The film “Speed Bandits”, which pretends to be a real news feature, is produced by the Danish Road Safety Council. The message is clear: Speed limits must be adhered to, but the measures are somewhat untraditional!
“We wanted to try out a new form of communication in an attempt to reach a group that is becoming increasingly difficult to reach via traditional campaign channels. But we had not in our wildest imagination reckoned that the film would be such a great success. In the first week, the film was seen by more than 1 million people in 180 countries – even in the Vatican City, it has been opened 55 times,” says project manager Julie Paulli Budtz in a press release.
Speed Bandits voted the most viral movie
After two weeks, the film was hailed as the most viral film on the net by the opinion-leading American web magazine “Contagious”. Viral marketing means that the users themselves pass the film on to their friends, and in this way the film can spread to the whole world in a very short time.
– In the Danish Road Safety Council, we have been chimed down by journalists from Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and England, among others, who have made TV features about the topless girls’ attempts to slow down. At the same time, traffic safety organizations from e.g. Ireland turned to inspiration for their own campaigns.
Lively debate and effect on the target group
If you search for Speed Bandits online, you can see that the film is being discussed lively. An American writes: “That’s it! I’m moving to Denmark” while others ask if it really happens that way in Denmark. The film creates attention – also among the young men. In December 2006, a survey prepared for the Danish Road Safety Council showed that 30% of the target group think more about their speed after watching the film.
“We have seen that a viral film like Speed Bandits can do more than just entertain. The film has made the target group think about their own driving, and it is therefore a medium we will experiment more with in the future. Especially in relation to young drivers. If we are to have their attention, we have to surprise them with an original communication, ”says Julie Paulli Budtz.
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