TVB, Ad Council Will Get Anti-'Buzz' Spots On

The two new drunk-driving prevention commercials for the holiday season are edgier than usual

By P.J. Bednarski -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/24/2008

The Advertising Council and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) will introduce two new drunk-driving prevention commercials for the holiday season that are edgier than usual PSAs.

In an annual project TVB calls Project Roadblock, it hopes stations will run the spots heavily during the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, when there is more available commercial inventory—and lots more drinking. Last year, 47,058 spots ran on 1,300 channels.

The new commercials, spinning off the 25-year-old "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" campaign, carry the theme "Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving" first introduced last year. The new spots show a friend in an ambulance with his pal and a husband and his injured wife. In each spot, both uninjured passengers explain to physicians that they were only "buzzed," not drunk.

"What? You were just buzzed?" a doctor asks the husband. "In that case, she's just fine."

At that, the wife rises from the gurney, obviously injured and says, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Really?" asks the husband.

"Nah, not really," answers the doctor as the woman collapses. The buddy spot is similar.

Since The Ad Council began running spots in 1982, alcohol-related traffic fatalities have fallen from 19,600 to 13,000. The Wenham, Mass.-based agency Mullen produced this year's commercials pro bono.

TVB, Ad Council Work For Safer Holiday Roads

Their Project Roadblock now counts 842 stations in 207 markets that are committed to airing anti-drunk driving PSAs leading up to New Year's Eve. Last year, the value of donated airtime totaled $4 million.

By Arthur Greenwald, TVNEWSDAY, Dec. 3, 2007

Ah, December. A season to celebrate those things that really matter: friends, family and life itself. What better time to express your gratitude to your viewers by making damn sure they stay alive this holiday season?

That's the bottom line of Project Roadblock, the Television Bureau of Advertising's monumentally-successful collaboration with the Ad Council to combat drunk driving with holiday-themed PSAs. And make no mistake, drunk driving remains the leading cause of death among younger Americans, especially young men.

This project is a roadblock in three ways, according to TVB Executive Vice President Abby Auerbach. "We're creating a national roadblock of stations. We're concentrating the campaign over a short number of days, with increased exposure on New Years' Eve. That creates a broadcast `roadblock' of messages. And, of course, we hope the campaign works like an automotive roadblock, which can physically stop drunk drivers before they hurt somebody."

In other words, if you're watching television on New Year's Eve, you're very likely to encounter these messages. And no wonder. The campaign now runs in 207 of 211 television markets. Since its 2004 launch, the number of participating stations has grown from 517 to 842. TVB estimates that last year stations ran the PSAs over 23,000 times, donating airtime valued at almost $4 million.

But the success doesn't stop there, says Auerbach. "The Ad Council does an annual post-campaign survey to measure the number of people who recall the campaign and the number who say it's influenced their personal behavior."

Those numbers are significant and they've grown every year. In 2006, more than 30 percent of the target audience (men 21-35) recalled seeing the PSA. Even more striking, more than 20 percent of adults who had seen the PSA said that they had taken action to stop a friend or family member from driving under the influence.

Not too shabby. But the TVB thinks stations can do even better.

"This year we're giving stations creative they can use on their Web sites," says Auerbach. "And we've added another roadblock-within-a-roadblock element. We have a really terrific text message that stations can push out to their local subscribers."

So on Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. sharp local time, cell phones in every market will ringtone in the New Year with a station-branded bulletin reminding viewers not to drink and drive.

But all those PSAs are merely part of the campaign in many markets. A growing number of stations amplify the messages with news series, local vignettes, community partnerships and even such direct services as free cab rides for inebriated viewers.

The most ambitious of these efforts is presented with a special Silver Bell Award, the Ad Council's highest honor for public service. Winning stations include WANE Fort Wayne, Ind. (2004), WHBF Davenport, Iowa (2005) and WSTM-WSTQ Syracuse, N.Y. (2006).

Not content to rest on last year's laurels, the Barrington Broadcasting Syracuse duopoly has already begun to expand the campaign, according to Community Relations Director Laura Hand.

"Drinking and driving is a major concern in Central New York, so we make an effort to get safety awareness out, even before Christmas and New Year's. The night before Thanksgiving is also a big party night here, so we had live reports from our bar area, stressing police patrols and [we publicized] the availability of safe rides home through the I'm Smart safe driver service."

And if keeping precious viewers alive another year isn't enough incentive, there's even a potential profit incentive. One set of PSAs, titled Innocent Victims is deliberately produced without use of SAG talent, so as to permit local sponsorship.

"Broadcast television is still the No. 1 medium," says Auerbach. "It's still the most effective, most influential and most persuasive medium of them all. Year after year, we're seeing the viewer recall numbers grow and we're changing those behaviors. And we're thrilled to have the opportunity to make this holiday season even safer than the last."

Straight Public Service, No Chaser

By David Goetzl -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/17/2006

The 2005 “Project Roadblock” campaign against drunk driving reached more than 97% of the country and generated an estimated $6 million in exposure. But perhaps most impressive, research shows that the effort persuaded nearly 20% of the people who viewed the ads to take action.

A joint venture between the Ad Council, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Television Bureau of Advertising—the second year it has been tried—the public-service campaign saw 638 stations air more than 21,000 PSAs during its week-long run leading up to New Year's Eve. The Project Roadblock name is derived from the initiative's concentrated seven-day push to blanket the airwaves with a message to avoid driving while intoxicated. It also happens to be a week when stations don't always have lots of ads to run.

The effort marked the debut of the “Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving” message, an evolution of the long-running “Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk” campaign. It was the most successful single push for the 20-year-old anti–drunk-driving effort in terms of the number of stations participating, number of spots aired, percent of the country covered, and people reached (49 million).

Stations from 133 broadcast groups ran the spots, which were produced by the Ad Council and were worth an estimated $3.8 million in media placements. Their support of PR efforts, including stations' covering the campaign on their local newscasts, extended the campaign's value (by an additional $2.4 million).

“A stunning performance from the television stations,” says TVB Executive VP Abby Auerbach.

Although the campaign ran for only a week, 18% of the people who saw it said in a follow-up survey that they had recently acted to stop an impaired friend or family member from driving under the influence. The research also showed nearly 25% of men ages 21-35, the campaign's target, had seen or heard about the campaign (drunk driving remains the leading cause of death for younger Americans; the majority of those killed are men).

“We had the ability to really break through to the targeted audience in that short period of time,” says Ad Council President/CEO Peggy Conlon.

At the TVB marketing conference, the Ad Council will award WHBF Davenport, Iowa, a “Silver Bell” honor for its commitment to the campaign. The Citadel Broadcasting CBS affiliate scheduled the PSAs so that 80% ran during the heavy-viewing dayparts between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. The station also ran banners for the campaign on its Web site and aired a week-long series during its evening news.

Tribune Broadcasting will receive a “Silver Bell” for its overall commitment to Ad Council initiatives. Tribune's 26 stations were active participants in “Project Roadblock” and other public-service efforts.

Says Conlon, “They really understand the role they can play in the community to help solve problems.”

Ad Council Switches Slogan
Drunk-driving campaign aims for fresh approach

By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/31/2005

After more than 20 years, the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Transportation are benching for now one of advertising's most recognizable slogans: "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk." The new tagline: "Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving."

During the holiday season, public-service announcements bearing the new tagline will premiere exclusively on local broadcast TV as part of Project Roadblock, a continuing partnership between the Ad Council, a nonprofit advertising organization, and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), a local-broadcast-sales trade group. Most spots will be 25 seconds followed by a five-second tag featuring the slogan, which will dissolve into the words "Project Roadblock: Local TV Puts the Brakes on Drunk Driving." The spots will air nationally after the holidays.

"We got a fast start right out of the gate," said Abby Auerbach, executive VP of TVB. "We expect to easily surpass the 517-station mark of last year."

In the New Year's 2004 campaign, the Ad Council and TVB persuaded 517 TV stations to contribute their extra inventory during the holidays for airplay of a series of Project Roadblock spots called "Innocent Victims." Rival station groups and market competitors put aside differences to make it work. Stations in 86% of the designated market areas participated, ensuring that nearly anyone who watched TV on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day saw the spots.

Nielsen's Sigma Data system determined that the spots ran 18,207 times, yielding a five-day total of $3.4 million in donated time. A post-campaign Nielsen study found that 38% of respondents knew of the campaign and 25% percent of those had spoken to a friend or family member about it.

Advocates believe the campaign has saved thousands of lives: According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, alcohol-related traffic fatalities totaled 17,013 in 2002 versus 26,173 in 1982.

TV-industry insiders understand the double meaning in "roadblock": a term stations use when they book advertising so that viewers cannot avoid seeing it.

A Sober Success Story

To ring in the new year, TVB/Ad Council effort blitzed viewers with anti–drunk-driving ads

By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/28/2005

Friends don’t let friends drive drunk. After hearing that refrain for the past 20 years, hardly anyone lets inebriated friends walk out the door without fighting them for their car keys. In fact, nearly 70% of Americans say they have stopped someone from driving drunk.

Last New Year’s Eve, the Ad Council and the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) took that slogan a step further, persuading 517 TV stations to give the issue significant airplay. Stations spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve airing seven spots titled “Innocent Victims.”

The emotional spots, created by BBD Needham Worldwide in New York, focus on people who have lost their lives because of drunk drivers.

“This is a great campaign to do at the end of the year, when everyone is preparing to go to lots of parties,” says Peggy Conlon, president and chief executive officer of the Ad Council. “Using the power of the media to remind people that they need to plan ahead is important.”

And running the commercials didn’t hurt stations’ bottom lines, notes TVB Executive VP Abby Auerbach, “The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a time when TV stations have more inventory available. We thought we could make a huge impact while demonstrating the power of local television.”

A message worth $3.4 million

As a result of the campaign, titled Project Roadblock, nearly anyone who turned on the TV on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day heard the message. Stations in 86% of designated market areas participated, and Nielsen’s Sigma Data systems detected that spots ran 18,207 times, says Conlon.

That amounted to a five-day total of $3.4 million in donated media, most of which fell on New Year’s Eve. A typical Ad Council campaign earns $30 million in donated media annually, with some $10 million of that coming from TV.

What’s more, a post-campaign Nielsen study determined that 38% of people polled were aware of the campaign, with 25% of those saying they had spoken to a friend or family member about it.

The name for the campaign is an inside joke, having nothing to do with driving drunk. In TV, a “roadblock” is a term stations or networks use when they book advertising so viewers in a market can scarcely avoid seeing a message. The Ad Council also organized roadblocks in 2000, the year following the tragic school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and last year, when it launched a campaign against juvenile obesity.

This week, at the TVB Conference in New York, both LIN Television’s WANE in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Hearst-Argyle will receive the Ad Council’s Silver Bell award for work they did around Project Roadblock.

Personal involvement, too

WANE tied the public-service spots into one of its existing community efforts: working with local taxi companies to give people rides during the holiday season. The station also prominently featured a news story about a woman who lost her 14-year-old son to a drunk driver.

“Project Roadblock fit perfectly into something we’d already been doing for a while,” says April McCampbell, community-affairs coordinator for WANE. The station’s public-service efforts have increased greatly since the arrival of Station Manager Alan Riebe more than two years ago, she adds: “It’s really something that’s in his heart to do. I have seen quite a change.”

The Hearst-Argyle television group donated a total of $387,877 in airtime, the most of the 105 groups involved in the project.

“I think this is a wonderful example of how media can adopt an issue and truly save lives,” Conlon says. “There’s no better use of media.”

TVB Fights Drunk Driving

More than 100 stations nationwide band together to air holiday PSA*

By Allison Romano -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/1/2004

This holiday season, local broadcasters will do something they've never done before: join forces nationwide to fight drunk driving.

Between Christmas and New Year's, more than 100 stations will air public-service announcements (PSAs) produced by the Television Advertising Bureau, a trade group for local broadcast sales, and the Ad Council, a nonprofit advertising organization. Dubbed "Project Roadblock," the initiative is distinct.

It illustrates an unusual show of cooperation between rival station groups and market competitors. The effort will culminate on New Year's Eve, when the spots will get additional emphasis.

So far, Clear Channel Communications' 36 stations and Nexstar Broadcasting Group's 46 stations have enlisted. Individual stations from Belo Corp., Cox Broadcasting, Hearst-Argyle, Hubbard Broadcasting, Liberty, Tribune Broadcasting and Viacom also are participating. TVB President Chris Rohrs hopes to have several hundred stations by the time the campaign is launched.

If the campaign reaches that level, the value of the ad time could exceed $100 million. (Some stations will opt to run the PSAs from their ad inventory, while others will use time allocated for promotions.)

Of course, local broadcasters often create their own PSAs that speak to national and local concerns. But the collaboration is a first. Nexstar Broadcasting CEO Perry Sook can recall a few instances when broadcasters in a particular market have collaborated on a PSA, such as after a natural disaster. "But there has not been anything with this impact on a national level," he says.

Project Roadblock came to fruition last fall, when Rohrs was searching for ways to weave together a national PSA campaign with member stations. Rohrs serves on the Ad Council's board and secured the group's creative cooperation.

The campaign uses a series of seven spots from Ad Council's "Innocent Victims" series, which poignantly identifies victims of drunk-driving accidents. "The Ad Council's spots are always well-done," says Sook. "By giving them additional reach and frequency, we can enhance the message."

This is the Ad Council's first coordinated campaign with local stations. It has done one campaign across TV properties before, a PSA on youth-violence prevention that ran on broadcast and cable networks on the one-year anniversary of the Columbine High School tragedy. "Project Roadblock has the power to be even bigger," says Ad Council President and CEO Peggy Conlon, because it features numerous spots and will air on stations nationwide. The effort also involves the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration.

Each 25-second spot will carry the message "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk" and ends with a five-second tagline that includes the TVB logo and the message "Project Roadblock: Local TV Puts the Brakes on Drunk Driving." Local stations can customize the ads by adding their logo and Web-site address.

"This is a chance to ramp up the power of spot TV," says Rohrs. "We can get more reach this way."

(TVB Online Note: The final campaign included 517 stations.)