VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES
Speed’s Impact
CHALLENGE
People are speeding: often, while distracted, and even in school zones. And in 2024, there were 241 deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the City of Richmond. So, the Virginia DMV and City of Richmond banded together and asked us to create a brand activation that would illustrate the true impact of people’s speed—not through the number of deaths, but through the velocity, severity, and bodily damage it can cause. To put a stop to speeding, to protect our school zones, and to amplify the city’s larger traffic safety initiative, Vision Zero. A tall order, one could say.
THE MOVE
Most of us can understand how speeding is dangerous when you’re going 20 over on the highway, but what about when you’re going 5 over in a school zone? After putting our heads together with some speed physicists and decoding the science behind it all, we were able to explain it—shockingly, simply, not through speed, but through heights.
THE FINALE
Gained a reach of 3.3+ million in earned media
Content organically shared across 10 countries
Garnered 12 stories in media outlets worldwide
Yep, we really built that ladder—five stories tall, wrapped in cautionary yellow signage, with markers at each speed limit to show speed’s impact in an understandable, undebatable, and unbelievably moving way.
But that’s not all! We had a professional climber scale the ladder, looking down at the potential fall from various heights/speeds. Super scary stuff (done super safely, of course).
But how did we make it? How did we promote it? How did it do? Keep scrolling.
