Not many marketers can honestly admit that their one of their campaigns has become a global phenomenon. However, Chloe Alsop, a seven-year marketing veteran at Australian Metro, the public transport utility, and with just two years of prior account experience at Clemenger Harvie Edge, has done just that. Her public service message, created with McCann Australia, called Dumb Ways to Die, has not only become one of the most awarded campaigns ever, but its lyrics are being sung by children all over the world as they become more careful around train tracks.
The Dumb Ways to Die PSA video, when uploaded to YouTube, was viewed 2.5 million times within 48 hours and 4.7 million times within 72 hours. As of December 2014, the video received over 95 million views. The music track was popular, too, charting on iTunes in 28 countries.
Despite the wild success and many accolades, Ms. Alsop maintains unrelenting enthusiasm for the project, as well as a freshness and humility that’s not only inspiring, but rooted in a sincere belief that the small team is helping to improve awareness of rail dangers, especially among children. She recognizes that the video draws people into the safety message, rather than frighten them away.
Anyone who’s seen the original 3-minute campaign video, which went viral through sharing and social media starting in late 2012, will confess that the captivating tune by Tangerine Kitty stays in their head for days. Plus, it features 21 adorable little animated characters who wind up killing themselves in increasingly dumb ways-- (which would delight any fairy-tale-loving child)-- until the last three are killed by trains due to unsafe (and now, clearly, simply dumb) behavior.
In June 2013, the campaign clip won the Integrated Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival, and also won five Grand Prix awards, 18 Gold Lions, three Silver Lions, and two Bronze Lions—making it the most-awarded campaign in the festival's history.
Since the original video, Metro released a Dumb Ways to Die game as an app for iOS devices, which invites players to avoid the dangerous activities engaged in by the various characters featured throughout the campaign. Players can also pledge to “not do dumb stuff around trains.” A sequel was made in November 2014 with a greater variety of challenges. The second game in the series, Dumb Ways to Die 2, went to number 1 in 80 countries, and has been played billions of times. Plus there have been over 63 million pledges globally to be safe around trains.
And we’re only expecting more from Chloe Alsop as she takes Dumb Ways to Die to the next level.
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