The idea was to persuade people not to drink and drive, by persuading them to trial an innovative taxi service. We chose to launch the campaign over the Festive Season in pubs and clubs. So how did we get their attention? We made people the medium. We sent ugly-as-sin people into pubs and clubs. They wore T-shirts that said things like: “When I start looking like a supermodel to you, it’s time to call Toot-n-Scoot.” They were, for all intents and purposes, walking talking live sobriety tests. We supported their presence with additional ambient, tactical and POS ideas.

We sent ugly-as-sin people into pubs and clubs. They were, for all intents and purposes, walking talking live sobriety tests. If any of them started to look good to you, you knew you had to be drunk. We placed posters of the ‘uglies’ on toilet doors, cigarettes lit from the wrong end in ashtrays (message: when you start doing this, call us) and a ‘walk the line’ stencil sprayed in parking lots.

The communication didn’t take a typical fear-inducing ‘big brother’ approach, which proved to be far more effective. It received enormous publicity in national newspapers, coverage on marketing websites and massive exposure through DJ discussions and live call-ins on the 3 biggest radio stations, combined listenership: 3.1 million. Toot-n-Scoot enjoyed their busiest Festive Season to date with a ROI of over 2000%.