Drink Driving is a big problem in New Zealand, particularly with young Maori guys. When they’re out partying with their mates, the last thing they want to do is to kill the vibe by telling a mate not to drive home drunk. We needed them to speak up regardless of the social consequences. The problem is that traditional ‘blood and guts’ style ads have no impact on this target audience. We decided to tackle the issue with ‘Ghost Chips’: The first ever New Zealand anti-drink-driving campaign with a positive message that portrayed the audience in a cool, aspirational way. We used humour to break through and gave our audience the tools and catchphrases they needed to help them speak up at the moment of truth.

We launched ‘Ghost Chips’ on TV the night of the Rugby World Cup Final. But it was also a social-media activation campaign designed to start conversations online. So we deliberately placed the content on YouTube with no paid PR, digital media or viral seeding. It was up to the audience to find and then share it amongst their peers. This was a core part of the strategy, as people love to discover things for themselves online. As soon as you tell them what’s ‘cool’ they instinctively turn off, particularly online opinion-leaders.

1.8m views on YouTube for a country of 4.8m.#1 most-viewed video in New Zealand for the month.#1 top favorited for the month in New Zealand.#1 top-rated video for the month in New Zealand.#1 educational video of all time in New Zealand.

Front page news in NZ.Hotly debated topic on social-media, forums and blogs.Over 175 Facebook pages based on individual lines were spontaneously created. One page alone had over 70,000 members.The ad resulted in the biggest New Zealand meme of the year. Countless YouTube mashups and email memes were created.

Many of the lines entered into the Kiwi vernacular. In fact, ‘Ghost Chips’ and ‘really complicated situation’ were voted 1 and 2 best ‘one-liners’ of the year in New Zealand.