Black Sheep Advertising win Best Marketing Campaign of the Year at Australian Institute of Marketing Awards

Black Sheep Advertising’s Drink Driving campaign, Selfish Prick, won Overall Best Marketing Campaign Of The Year and Best Social Change Marketing Campaign last week at the Australian Institute of Marketing Awards for Excellence Gala in Sydney.

Up against strong contenders, the SA Police campaign took the top honour on the night, recognised for the strong campaign outcomes, reducing the incidence of drink driving by 35% to the lowest DUI rate in a decade.

A spokesperson for SAPOL said “addressing road trauma is an emotive and daunting task, but we are pleased that our un-flinching efforts to reduce the lives lost each year are being recognised at a national level by our peers.”

Black Sheep Advertising’s Executive Creative Director and Principal, Andrew Millar said the campaign was so strong because it was centred around a truth.

“You can call someone a name or insult them, and it slides off them like water off a duck’s back… but call them selfish, and that eats at their psyche and forces them to reflect on their behaviour.”

Black Sheep Advertising’s Director of Client Services, Tom Ootes pointed to their Human Centred Marketing approach when developing the campaign.

“Our target market had likely driven under the influence of alcohol before - and gotten away with it, so we needed to develop an idea that resonated with them on a deeper level.”

“Occasional Offenders self-rationalise to themselves about why they will be ok and why they won’t get caught. They can even persuade themselves they drive more carefully after a few drinks and therefore won’t hurt anyone else too.”

“By positioning drink driving as a selfish behaviour, we bypassed all those arguments and hit them where it hurt.”

Post campaign research showed that 100% of the target market felt ashamed about previous drink driving behaviour and 97% felt others would judge them if they drove drunk.

The term Selfish Prick entered the vernacular and was used in editorial, with 80% of the target market suggesting they would use the term to refer to drink driving behaviour in future.