Worried that taking the keys away from a tipsy friend is a faux pas? The Toronto-based Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) would like you to reconsider that.
A new anti-drinking and driving campaign from the LCBO and Oakville, Ont.-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada features good Samaritans saving strangers from tumbling down the stairs and walking in front of a moving car. It plays on the idea that if you wouldn’t be too embarrassed to prevent such mishaps, why should stopping a friend from drunk driving be any different?
‘The LCBO tries to take a more thoughtful approach. It’s a matter of appealing to someone’s intelligence,’ explains Karen Howe, VP/ CD at Toronto-based Due North Communications. ‘In this category, there are a lot of people just wagging fingers.’
Two different washroom executions feature texturized posters made to look like a brick wall or a tree, with the tagline: ‘Too embarrassed to stop a friend from drinking and driving? This [tree/wall] won’t be.’
The campaign targets suburbanites in their early 40s who don’t typically drink too much, but may accidentally have one too many at a friend’s house.
The 30-second TV and two 30-second radio spots broke before the holidays, while the washroom efforts debuted in January. The campaign will run in higher rotation leading up to the May ‘two-four’ weekend.
advertiser: Bill Kennedy, executive director, corporate communications; Jacqueline Waldorf, senior communications consultant, social responsibility; Jim Fitzpatrick, broadcast producer, LCBO; Andrew Murie, CEO, MADD Canada
agency: Due North Communications
CD: Karen Howe
AD: Shawn Wells
copywriters: Karen Howe, Sam Zivot, David Gee
agency producer: Louise Blouin
account team: Jill King, Loralei Derera, Justin Xavier
print production: Dee Tung
prodco: Wilfrid Park
director: David Tennant
executive producer: Angie Colgoni
editor: Mick Griffin, Rooster
sound: Chris Tait and Terry O’Reilly, Pirate Radio and TV
