n/a: Text and Drive

Funeral Home encourages motorists to Text and Drive Toronto, May 10, 2016 – Motorists in downtown Toronto may have been shocked this morning to see a digital outdoor advertisement for a funeral home trying to drum up some business by encouraging drivers to text and drive. (See it here at www.wathanfuneral.com) But the campaign isn’t really for a funeral home. It’s a collaboration between Cieslok Media and Montreal ad agency john st. that’s trying to get people to think of the real consequences of texting and driving.

“People see and hear the words ‘Don’t text and drive’ almost every day, but the number of people doing it keeps going up and up,” says Mylène Savoie, Managing Director of john st., Montreal. “So we wanted to think of a different way of saying it that would make people think about the real and deadly consequences, which is where ‘Text and drive’ came from.”

The agency approached Cieslok Media (in Toronto) who embraced the idea and the cause. “As a premium large format company, we are right there on the streets and highways where distracted driving takes place every day,” says Jörg Cieslok, President and CEO of Cieslok Media. “We thought this was a powerful way to tell people how dangerous distracted driving is and hopefully get them to stop doing it. It’s also a very impactful way of showing how powerful digital signage can be.”

The campaign includes a website for Wathan Funeral Home (wathanfuneral.com), which looks like any other funeral home website, except when you read the copy, including this line: “We're just trying to get Canadians to stop texting and driving, which is projected to kill more people in Ontario this year than drinking and driving.”

“We thought most people would get the message from the billboard alone – that texting and driving kills,” says Savoie, “But if someone actually thought a Funeral Home was really promoting this kind of behaviour, we should create a site to set the record straight.” The site includes statistics that show how commonplace distracted driving is with figures like “over half of Ontario drivers admit to reading texts while behind the wheel. That's more than half of the drivers on the road today risking their lives, their passengers’ lives and the lives of their fellow motorists and pedestrians.”

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/_k4Phy4IywQ

About Cieslok Media

Create. Captivate. Connect

Cieslok Media is revolutionizing the OOH industry with premium large format billboards, dominations and OOH Mobile Integration. With over 25 years’ experience, Cieslok Media has acquired the best media assets in prime locations within Canada’s major markets and is the driving force in the OOH industry for data technology. Leading the charge in OOH innovation, Cieslok Media is focused on achieving outcomes and exceeding our client's expectations with effective solutions, research and data driven results. For more information about the company, please visit: www.cieslokmedia.com.

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About john st.
john st. was launched in 2001 by partners Arthur Fleischmann, Angus Tucker, Stephen Jurisic, Emily Bain and Jane Tucker. A fully integrated agency, john st. offers advertising, strategy, design, digital and social marketing to a roster of clients in consumer goods, beverage alcohol, retail, automotive, financial services and pharmaceuticals.