Situation: Fatigue is the third biggest killer on Australian roads. Our country has some of the longest driving distances in the world. That’s why authorities recommend stopping to rest every 2 hours for at least 15 minutes. Young drivers are the most at risk, because they tend to power through to their destination without stopping to rest.

Brief: AAMI, Australia’s leading motor insurance company, knows accident numbers spike over the summer holidays, as young drivers hit the road on long road trips. Our challenge was to create a road safety campaign to encourage young Aussies to stop and rest particularly on the longest and most dangerous stretches of road.

Objectives: Making Australians safer is at the heart of everything AAMI does. We thought it was time for an innovative solution to make young drivers a little safer and help reduce the number of accidents over the summer holidays.

AAMI RestTowns is a targeted media, road safety initiative, encouraging young drivers on long road trips to stop and rest in a rural Australian town every 2 hours.

Every year, AAMI collects comprehensive data from thousands of road accidents across Australia, into their annual AAMI Crash Index. Using AAMI’s Crash Index Data, we identified the longest and most dangerous stretches of road and selected specific rural towns where young drivers could stop and rest, based on their local attractions. Rural towns in need of visitors and business after the extended COVID lockdown.

Using Facebook interest-based targeting we created geo-targeted digital travel guides based on their location, with a link to a personalised Spotify 2-hour road trip playlist.

When our young drivers hit the road, we combined geolocation, time-based and in-car targeting to serve them ‘rest alerts’, along with local incentives to encourage them to stop in our AAMI RestTowns.

AAMI data revealed a weakness in insurance sales to young drivers. However, Australians under 30 are most likely to have a fatal car crash. They represent 62% of all fatigue related deaths but are only 15% of the licensed driver population.

To make matters worse, young Australians are notoriously hard to reach, especially through any kind of traditional, road safety communications.

Small towns along popular road trip routes are a perfect place to break and are often overlooked. We brought these local treasures to the fore, using targeted media to inspire young drivers to stop, support fellow Aussies and discover a hidden gem.

Rather than blanketing road safety messages that are easy to forget, AAMI RestTowns targeted our audience at the right time and the right place with the right incentive.

It made perfect sense to partner with Facebook, Spotify, Waze and Tik-Tok to deliver our messages.

Using AAMI’s Crash Index Data, we identified the longest and most dangerous stretches of road and selected 52 country towns in need of visitors and business after the extended COVID lockdown.

Based on their local attractions, we tailored a data-informed, targeted media campaign to connect with young drivers on their road trips.

First, using Facebook interest-based targeting, we delivered geo-targeted travel guides promoting our AAMI RestTowns, with a link to a Spotify 2-hour road trip based on their chosen route and location.

When our young drivers hit the road, we combined geolocation, time-based and in-car targeting using Spotify, Waze and Tik-Tok to safely serve them ‘rest alerts’. We based our messages on their interests, like coffee, food, landscapes, local attractions or shopping; along with local incentives to encourage them to stop.

Waze real-time alerts helped us direct young drivers to their nearest AAMI RestTown.

AAMI RestTowns delivered the following results:

+35 Million social impressions.

+8 Million young drivers reached.

29% reduction in motor accident claims during campaign period.

5,466 KM of road covered. Longer than LA to NYC or Lisbon to Moscow.

52 AAMI RestTowns established.

47% brand consideration, the highest we’ve seen since 2018.

+5% point uplift in NSW

+3% point uplift in VIC

27% of young Australians believe that AAMI meets their needs, +3% the year prior.

26% brand love which is +4% points ahead of our closest competitor.

The targeted media that we ran saw us achieve good scale with great context relevance:

• Tik Tok reached 21.7M impressions, 110K clicks, 521k Interactions.

• Facebook reached +7.7M impressions.

• Spotify reached +6M impressions to those en-route.

• Waze reached +1.5M impressions to those en-route.

• Spotify in car and dynamic audio achieved 100% completion rates.

• YouTube reached +3M Views.