Situation: General Motors is an enormous heritage brand that has shaped American culture for over a century—but times are changing. Keen to reestablish leadership and write the next chapter of automotive history, GM has banked its future on their Zero-Zero-Zero strategy: achieving a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, and Zero Congestion.

Brief: GM believed they could engineer their way to Zero-Zero-Zero with rigorous testing and analytics because that’s what they do best. They had a clear roadmap for the last two goals, but the path to achieving ‘zero crashes’ on American roadways was a mystery that desperately needed solving as fatalities continue to rise.

Objectives: To establish General Motors as a thought leader in the world of not just automotive safety, but human safety; to provide a fresh lens on safety that would make a true impact in culture and drive real awareness.

The Future of Safety not only humanised GM’s internal approach to safety, but served as the lightning rod for its iconic #ScreamItOut campaign.

Our data showed that 2/3 of American drivers had engaged with / considered copying dangerous driving stunts on TikTok – revealing it as the ultimate platform for GM to target.

They partnered with beloved TikTok influencer AngryReactions to promote ‘scream therapy’ as ‘their most advanced safety feature yet,’ encouraging viewers to scream out their emotions before revving the engine. In a radical strategic shift, GM acknowledged that mental distress is worse than texting when it comes to road safety.

#ScreamItOut reached 10.3 billion viewers in 3 weeks; the highest rate of engagement the client has seen. In their own words, “it was awesome.” It also garnered mainstream attention from the Wall Street Journal, and provided fuel for Twitter’s first branded panel in the history of Twitter

We discovered that the 89% of Americans who called themselves ‘safe drivers’ weren’t being entirely honest. These same drivers also admitted to speeding (83%), driving through a stop-sign (50%) and not wearing a seatbelt (43%). We called this the ‘driver delusion.’

Even more importantly, our research revealed that there can be no physical safety on the road without first ensuring mental safety.

A stunning 54% of Americans admitted to crying while driving, and half said ‘driving makes me feel better when I’m overwhelmed’— (while acknowledging that those emotions made them worse drivers).

We consulted psychologists who explained the significance of mental load. If your mental capacity is being occupied by your emotions, you don’t have enough left over to concentrate on driving.

This data-led revelation showed the client that with all the traditional safety features in the world, zero crashes was unachievable without a radical new creative approach.

The Future of Safety changed GM’s mind about safety—and helped them better understand the minds of their customers. Its impact is already being felt on American roads, with 2.2 million drivers posting videos of themselves ‘screaming it out’ before driving off into the sunset.

On top of these 2.2 million user-generated screams, the campaign generated over 10 billion views, 1.1 billion “loves”, “shares” and “comments”, and 100+ minutes of airtime.

While our competitors defaulted to seatbelts and texting during distracted driving month, the #Screamitout campaign forged new awareness of an issue the automotive industry has ignored for decades – that our emotions distract us more than our phones.

Culture change in big organizations like GM takes time, but our insights are already being integrated in profound ways. The marketing team scheduled multiple sessions to share the research with executive committees and expose as many people to the findings as possible.