DoT picks posters for drink-drive campaign
The Department of Transport has ditched TV in favour of posters for its 1m summer anti-drink-drive campaign, but denies it is seeking to cut media spend on the long-running education drive.
Anthony Clifton, media account director at The Media Centre, which has booked the campaign, says the shift from TV will allow the DoT to take advantage of the softer summer market in poster sites.
According to Clifton: “It’s not a money-led decision, but we have been able to exploit a weak period for outdoor.”
The heavyweight 48-sheet poster campaign uses stills from the controversial TV advertisements produced by DMB&B for the DoT’s Christmas anti-drink-drive campaign.
Posters at more than 2,000 sites are being supplemented by a tactical radio campaign targeting male drivers aged 17 to 24.
A spokesman for the DoT insists that the campaign, valued at 1m, maintains the spend by the department on last year’s TV-led summer campaign.
He adds that the switch from TV to posters will still achieve good coverage of the key target group of the campaign.
“The idea is to alert people on their way to the pub. They will hear anti-drink messages on the radio and see posters by the roadside,” says a DoT spokesman.
He adds that the switch in media strategy was made in consultations between the DoT and its advertising agencies.
