Introduction.

In late 2012, the cultural phenomenon that is Dumb Ways to Die was released on the world. Initially taking the form of a music video, supported by a number of complimentary media (including TV, Radio, iTunes PR, Social, Outdoor and even a kids book), the campaign designed to reach the youth of Melbourne, Australia quickly became a piece of pop-culture, enjoyed by young and old the world-over.

While the campaign was initially designed to run for a 6 to 12 month period, the public appetite for our message was clearly not satisfied, and the opportunity to grown an even bigger safety brand and to push an even more powerful message was obvious.

Our challenge was to find a way to reach even more people, at home and across the world, fuelling the franchise and driving engagement in order to achieve the strongest possible cut-through and ultimate reach goal – every Melbournian aged 14 to 18.

The Idea.

Dumb Ways to Die – The Games. The smart-phone game that brought the world of Dumb Ways to Die to life, and put it directly into the hands of people we were trying to reach.

Sustainability

In order to finance the on-going investment in the Dumb Ways to Die safety campaign, The Games needed to be designed to drive revenue, essentially making Dumb Ways fully self-funding. To achieve this, revenue is generated by in game purchases, in game advertising, and from players purchasing ad-free versions of the game.

Immediate Results.

Within one day Dumb Ways to Die: The Games had gone to number 1 in 19 countries.

Within a week the game had gone to number 1 on iPad in 91 countries, and to number 1 in iPhone in 53 countries.

Longer Term Results.

In the time since launch, The Games have been played 5.88 billion times.

It has been downloaded over 108 million times.

This equates to an average plays per downloaded game of 54 time.

The Games have directly generated 100 times our initial objective with 105 million pledges to be safe around trains.

On the back of the success of The Games, Dumb Ways to Die is now a fully, commercially viable entertainment enterprise. While revenue figures cannot be released, The Games have returned on their initial investment more