Neiman Group's Teen Drinking and Driving Campaign Wins 'Best of Show' at Philadelphia ADDY Awards

PHILADELPHIA (March 13, 2009) - “Full Apologies”—Neiman Group's multi-media campaign to combat teen drinking and driving, took Best of Show at the Philadelphia ADDY Awards, which took place March 5 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (See related release, “Neiman Group dominates Philadelphia ADDYs; wins more awards than any other agency for second year in a row”).

“We're thrilled to win Best in Show — especially when you consider all the superb work submitted by other agencies,” said Neiman Group CEO Tim Reeves. “We are deeply proud of this important work. And we are deeply grateful to Gov. Rendell, Deputy Communications Director Heidi Irwin, and all the marketing experts on the Commonwealth team. This work would never have come to life without their vision and their drive to make a difference.“

The campaign began when Neiman Group was challenged by the Pennsylvania Department of Health to find a better way to reduce teenage drinking and driving fatalities. Neiman Group's VP of Insights & Strategy Amy Muntz worked with research partner Battelle to interview hundreds of teens across Pennsylvania. The research produced a breakthrough insight: teens don't really believe they will die themselves. But the thought of killing a friend, and then having to live with the consequences was real and something most of the teens did not want to have to face.

Neiman Group's creative team used that insight to develop the emotional, impactful multi-media campaign called Full Apologies, found at FullApologies.com.

“The kids became our teachers and taught us a great deal,” said Muntz. “For one, they're not afraid of dying, which is the reason the traditional message approach of 'you could die' has had minimal effect. We knew we had to develop a campaign that talked with them—not at them.”

Neiman Group scoured the state for teenagers whose decision to drink and drive had taken someone's life. Some spoke anonymously, sharing their remorse and heartfelt apologies. The agency took their anonymous testimonials and transformed them into a series of vignettes, five total, told through dramatized reenactments by teenagers of similar ages and profiles. These five stories became the foundation of FullApologies.com.

Site visitors have the opportunity to make their own apology, for occasions when they drove drunk, or failed to stop someone else from doing so. This has turned out to be the site's most popular area. Visitors can also sign up to send text messages to themselves and their friends, reminding them at pivotal moments not to drink and drive.

The campaign was launched in May 2008 to coincide with prom season. Media included television commercials on teen-oriented cable networks like MTV, ESPN, Spike, and Comedy Central, cinema advertising and online banner advertising placements on social networking sites like Face Book, MySpace and YouTube, as well as on video gaming sites.

In just six months, the site had had nearly half a million visitors and the average visit lasted more than five minutes. More than 4,000 visitors have posted their own apologies, posted the site on their Face Book or e-mailed the site to a friend. The online media buy delivered a click through rate of four times the industry average.

Although this site promotion is exclusively inside Pennsylvania, the site has become popular across the country. Since its inception, FullApologies.com has created buzz online. A Google search delivers more than 5,750 listings that mention the site.