Funny and likeable – my strategy creating Dumb Ways to Die

Call me a cynic, but am I the only one who can see a repeat of ‘The world’s greatest Job’ campaign claims to authorship coming through thick and fast on this wonderful and disarming campaign.

“I did this”. “I did that”. “I got the coffee for the guy who worked with the session drummer”. “I was in reception at the same time this was pitched to the Client”.

Spare me. Spare us all.

Just enjoy and admire.

dont see why

Mescall wrote the words
the guy from Cat Empire produced the track
A girl with a nice voice sung it

they’ll be loads more people involved than that though – and all of them should be very pleased right now

Brilliant work

I was the first to comment on this hugely successful viral.

oh… damn 🙂

Well done John to you and your team. And congratulations Metro for backing such a innovative piece of work.

I for one have found myself wondering today (while trying to get those damn lyrics out of my head) how this video could have captured so much attention in so little time. Your rationale makes it clear this is not just some random event, but the well-earned result of a lot of careful creative thought and strategic preparation. I’m sure there are many others behind this work too and they all deserve hearty congratulations.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else this campaign has in store for us. It has raised the bar for all of us, even those too bitter to acknowledge it just yet.

Yes, but the campaign is the result of a brilliant idea, or set of ideas. The relaxed style works brilliantly, because this kind of dumb death is so casually achieved.

The comment about Dr Seuss is interesting, Dr Seuss did manage to do just as John claims, but don’t forget, Mr Geisel was an adult talking to a society who had grown up on cartoons, and I am sure he would have been as aware as anyone else, that it is adults who buy books, not children.

Songs and poetry stay in the mind. Many an old actor could tell you, that from all the plays and parts one plays throughout a lifetime, it is Shakespeare who stays with you, long after you have forgotten the rest. Iambic Pentameter or Anapaestic meter are, like simple images, magical mnemonics.

Love it. Creativity at its best. Its gone viral, because it’s good. And sadly, thats rare. Congrats to all and ESPECIALLY the client for trusting your guts (no pun intended).

Another component you missed out on here was money. Ok, there was no media spend but a lot obviously went into production.

And as for people that try and say ad agencies ‘don’t get content’ etc Well in one swoop these guys have put that to bed.

I guess I am the only one here or in Melbourne that does not think this is good.

Ok so the singing is cute, the characters are cute… i get that…but it takes us soooooo long to get to the point that this is a message about being safe around trains.

And i’m sorry but what are the reactions to little kids seeing this clip? Remember that advert of a guy getting into a washing machine and then a kid seeing it and doing the same thing?

I dont know… i just dont know about this.

I’ll probably get slammed for it but its my 2 cents worth.

Cheers
Missky

No denying this is very clever, very cute, super catchy and the animation is just brilliant.

@ Missky

You are under no pressure to like anything, at least you shouldn’t be. Say what you believe nobody can take that away from you.

You may think it takes a long time to get to the point that there is a message about being safe around trains, but then again, What about Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ?

Damn you Missky! You spoke out against the consensus!! We hate people like you, thinking for yourself and all that. We will hunt you down and beat you up! Good thing it’s an anonymous post. Phew…

Sorry, I just think it’s sad that you feel you have to apologise for having your own opinion. I quite liked the campaign, but if I didn’t, I’d be happy to say so. 🙂

BTW, funny that there is no reference to Happy Tree Friends (http://www.mondomedia.com/shows/happytreefriends/) which was a huge hit some 5-6 years ago. The campaign must be in part inspired by this (and I mean that in a positive way).

Who did the animation? It’s great!

Great work McCann. And Bravo Metro. It would have been easy to kill this idea. Many would have. But look how successful it is. People all round the world would give more than a kidney to be involved in this.

Just brilliant.
Well done to everyone involved.

The real congrats should go to the client! How many award winning concepts never see the light of day… Yes its a nice idea but it took the balls of Metro to approve and run with it. The real cred goes to them…

… i wish we all had clients like that.

Animation is by the wonderfully talented Julian Frost

Ignore the haters who reckon it takes too long to get to the Very Important Message. They don’t understand that not everyone has a 15-second attention span. The very fact that the key message takes so long to materialise is why this video works. It’s captivating until the very end. I suspect you’d have viewers switch off half way if the (let’s be honest) not-terribly-exciting message was conveyed earlier.

@ Richard Moss – Anna Karenina is a bit of a stretch as an analogy….

While I admire the production values and the number of views to date, I can’t help wonder if the clips cuteness and likability will count against message comprehension?

I think jingles work particularly well when the hook is for the desired action/behavioral change. Feel like a Tooheys – or two? Dumb way to die?

I wonder.

yes, the client has to really be congratulated.

obviously, the agency has earned this trust, and metro are being rewarded for taking a little risk – which it isn’t from a pure solution to a problem point of view, but a risk from potentially upsetting ‘sensitive people’ who might complain. but they’re really a minority, who unfortunately sway a lot of clients to make stuff boring.

but it goes to show how important account management are in this whole process too. betcha the suits who sold this in are being looked at carefully by other agencies!

Please tell me they are going to make collectable toys.

A lot of talk has been about the content, but what hasn’t been discussed is the seeding and optimisation process.
The biggest external referral source in the first 24 hours was RedditMedia.com.
I’m not sure if it was a sponsored post on Reddit or it was powered by an upload from a power user but that suggests some thought went into the ‘organic’ promotion of the video. Sue the content is phenomenal, but without some hard work done as soon as ‘publish’ has been hit, videos struggle gather the momentum they need to break into the most viewed / popular pages on YouTube.
Great work by all involved.

@ B

What do you envisage? Plush toys that break in half and bleed ?

Thanks @11:17

Love the animation!

I think the animator Julian Frost deserves some more kudos. It takes a lot to bring those characters to life and he’s done a great job at doing so!

John aren’t most deaths to do with trains suicide related (eg wearing headphones walking on the tracks) was that part of the brief?

Tom your point has merit but you undermine your credibility by over-egging the pudding.

You categorise anyone who thinks 3 minutes is too long to get to the message a ‘hater’ aka not accepting of the ‘consensus’ groupthink, which displays an uncritical, prejudiced and/or biased way of thinking.

“They don’t understand that not everyone has a 15-second attention span”. No-one has alleged that. All they’re saying is it’s a big risk to hope your audience waits 3 minutes for your message.

A more reasonable, mature and analytical response would be to say that the team have risked inserting the message in the last 10 seconds of a 180 second film because they were confident of the extremely high level of engagement the viewer would have with the cutesy, likeable material. They knew the trade off and were prepared to take the risk.

I’m a 23 year old cynic and I’ve watched the whole thing.

Five times.

Well done! =)

Apparently the song is being played at train stations. And I hope similar outdoor executions continue.

Now that awareness is through the roof, this should help people think twice around train stations.

@advertiser… yeah, let’s congratulate the suits. Hahaha!

id be interested to hear the distribution strategy and what was done to kick start the spread..

John…care to divulge a little?

@ Her

As I understand it, the majority of train-related deaths are indeed suicides. However that didn’t form part of our brief. As much as I’d like to do something about the appallingly high suicide rate in Australia, the issue is deep and complex and demands a series of responses that would go far beyond the realms of an advertising campaign.

This campaign was designed solely to help reduce accidental (and absolutely preventable) deaths and injuries caused by the large number of careless and, yes dumb, behaviours Metro staff witness every day.

It’s very very early days, but I hope what we’re doing can help.

And to others: you’re absolutely right. I think we all know you can’t do great work without a great client… and the team at Metro are just that.

@Alison_F Why not congratulate the suits? I think it’s a valid point that the suits at McCann have been able to sell such a risky idea. Creative isn’t absolutely everything.

Thanks John brilliant campaign and very well done.

I still dont like it.

A great lesson to clients and marketers.
Can you imagine, with all those lyrics and graphic visuals of accidents, just how many moments in this ad could have been made safer, how much of it could have been sanitised.
But real people out there (rather than target markets) like to hear your message in a fresh way. They don’t mind the edges kept on, they like the truth, in fact they are drawn to it, so long as it’s done in a charming or funny way.
So choose some creative people who have the talent to do that and then let them do it.
Congratulations client and agency guys for getting it right.

good on you John & those who stood by the idea

Would be great to know how many Australian views this clip got. Any chance of sharing that information after the views start to slow down?

congrats

Catchy tune, great animation, tons of wonderful stats. Impact on behaviour will be virtually nothing. Advertising campaigns have never addressed complex problems. They’re just too shallow in impact. We’ve never addressed risk takers behaviours, whether its dangerous driving or drink driving or any other context. They are repeat offenders for deeper reasons than any ad can reach. Take aids for example, when is the last time you saw an ad for aids prevention? Health promotion practitioners realised long ago that you need to reach the key people within these communities to have any effect, hence reaching out to barmen in gay clubs. Or how prostate cancer in middle aged men was tackled through barbers. Ad campaigns deal in audiences and are therefore shallow. Real behaviour change efforts deal with actors, social practices and the system of influence through contextual inquiry. The guys who produced this did a great job with the brief but they, like all marketing and ad people, they’re not qualified to tackle these issues. Organisations should stop wasting their money on these efforts and engage qualified professionals in the field of behavioural change.

“Advertising campaigns have never addressed complex problems. They’re just too shallow in impact.”

Ever heard of of an Australian ad by one Siimon Reynolds called The Grim Reaper, hon? It dramatically altered behaviour and saved countless lives. Simple communications can not only be beautiful: strategically accurate and well-crafted they can sometimes be dazzlingly effective.

It’s been my experience that “qualified professionals in the field of behavioural change” can often achieve nothing but blowing hot air out of their arses.

Love this work and so great to see such success come out of Oz.

However, in response to this article, – isn’t every ad agency in Oz currently trying to make work that is funny and likeable? Isn’t that what we always try and do. That is nothing new or insightful. And I would suggest the creators have made lots of other work which is “funny and likeable” but it hasn’t taken off like this.

I always find it funny that when a piece of comms is successful that we all talk about WHY it was successful. however, you could apply the same principals to a load of other steaming piles which have been made.

Some times things just come together at the right time.

And it makes it all the more magic when it does.

Damn catchy tune.
Great, fun animation.
Everyone recognises it pretty much instantly in the office. Bingo.
Will it be effective? Nup.
I’m not a ‘hater’, not jealous. I like it for what it is.
But it’s not a great ‘ad’.
The only, actual important bit is buried at the end – and it’s the weakest bit, really.
However, it clearly wins the ‘gone viral’ award, and the “See? We know how to communicate in the modern era” vote, so who cares if it doesn’t work?
That’s how we’re judging things these days (where’s that ‘Like’ button…).
What it is is a PR win.
The Metro ‘avoidable accident’ numbers will tell if it’s an advertising win.

Christ I’m sick of people who say “its too long”

You have ADD…get some treatment

I reckon this is ace. I am proud Aus (McCanns Melb FFS!!!!) has done something that has captured so much global attention and viral hits. I love the music and the animation. Think that I might even buy the full set of plushy dolls for Christmas presents.

But John, I do know a family who lost their 16 yo daughter in an uncategorised accident with a train. Perhaps she was a suicide and your message wasn’t meant for her. We just don’t know. But every time you sing “dumb ways to die” I think of the pain of those words on her family and friends.

Your song and your animation is beautiful, but if I were going to try to save lives, I’d be calling Grey and TAC.

This is a fabulous, wonderful, mostly silly song and film. Catchy as. Will get a lot of love from juries. Won’t win an effie though, mores the pity.

@James I wasn’t aware that one Siimon Reynolds had his Grim Reaper held to such scrutiny… by the way it is the last thing he worte of any note and has been living off it for three decades. As for the Dumb way to die, it is catchy and quirky and fune but all it has achieved thus far is get in front of a lot of people… this is not nor ever was the measurement of advertising effectiveness… real results are.

Whenever I see a picture of John Mescall, I think of Bernard Marx from Brave New World.

I’m with you Missky.

Anyone for Mr Men set to music?

Heh heh,
Now we sit back and watch the mad scramble for idea ownership.
Kudos to the singer, songwriter and animator without whom this ditty would be nothing.
And whoever is picking up the iTunes royalties, please buy a few more trains with the loose change.

I agree this ad will be hard for some people to watch.

But so would every ad that talks about being people killed by trains. In fact, graphic TAC-style ads would probably be worse.

So to my mind, this is ok.

But why no credit for the animator(s), composer.. and any other creatives?? Looked like a team effort to me..

@ monkeyboy. I was asked to write this piece to talk about why I thought it might have gone viral so quickly… there are plenty of other articles and sources listing all the credits. Of course it was and still is a huge team effort, and here is the full list of credits for you:

Credits Executive Creative Director: John Mescall, Writer: John Mescall, Art Director: Pat Baron 
Animation: Julian Frost, Digital Team: Huey Groves, Christian Stocker, Group Account Director: Adrian Mills, Account Director: Alec Hussain, Senior Account Manager: Tamara Broman, Senior Producer: Mark Bradley, Producer: Cinnamon Darvall, Composer and producer: Oliver McGill. Metro Trains Head of Corporate Communication: Leah Waymark, Stakeholder Communications Advisor: Brad Voss, Marketing Manager: Chloe Alsop, Marketing Coordinator: Philippa Jamieson.

In my humble opinion, John Mescall’s AdNews column is the best written, most insightful, most entertaining ad column in Australia. ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ is simply proof he practices what he preaches.

Cute.

I wonder if it appeals more to chicks than blokes? Who are the bigger risk-takers and involved in train accidents etc?

I watched a safety video. Out of choice. The whole thing, twice.

And then I posted it on Facebook and told my kids about it.

A safety video.

You guys are BRILLIANT!

surprisingly, given the hyper cuteness, it’s actually being viewed by more young men than women. Decapitations, shootings, mutilations, projectile vomit. exploding heads, killer wasps and electrocutions will do that I suppose.

To the makers of this video:

People running across the line between platforms are not dumb. THEY ARE COMMITTING SUICIDE.

also this Mr Man rip off is not going to stop them.

‘Augurs’ nor ‘augers’. That’s the drill, ha ha.

Interestingly, among all the comments, I have yet to see the most important one – and the reason presumably that this campaign was created. And that is whether or not the campaign reduces deaths by dumbness around trains.

let’s see those stats in 6 months, eh?

of course you haven’t seen any comments surrounding how effective this campaign has been. It just bloody launched!!

Jeezus…

OMG this is worse than the Wiggles. I can never “un-hear” that song! It must be working! Good job John.

This is typical marketing patting itself on the back without looking at the bigger picture.

We all keep going on about the number of views and the amount of times people watched it and OMG, a government funded organisation managed to do somthing so creative….. but has anyone talked about the impact? Is this really changing the way that people think about safety?

Let us not forget that in Victoria, where this campaign was done, two people died in the past fortnight stepping in front of trains.

Judging by the campaign stats, these two people would have seen the viral video and heard the song.

Now they’re dead.

Explain that one with your fancy viral stats 🙂