The positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

While it was an awards magnet, Dumb Ways to Die also attracted its fair share of critics, some doubting the campaign results while others were very concerned that it may actually promote suicide. If you give creatives enough scope, they’ll come back something good tied with the brief. I didn’t want a negative visual next to my brand and I don’t want something that has been already done. Well I didn’t know when we briefed on what I wanted but knew what I didn’t want. There’s a lot of advertising around safety about fear, telling people that they’ll will die and showing that in an accident scene or something terrible. McCann didn’t roll the dice and try something else that agencies can do, pushing something out that maybe is a hit or miss. If I sat here and said, “Yah, we knew that we’ll have 18 million people to pledge to be safe around trains globally, definitely not that.Ī good team of intelligent people that work in partnership together. But to that we knew it will go where it did, I think we can never say that. No words were spoken but it was on each other’s faces that it was pretty good.

When we recorded the final song, it was a bit of a moment of silence in the room. I am not saying it in an arrogant way knowing that it will be a roaring global success, but for me and seeing the brief, I knew it was right.ĭid you expect that it will be this successful? It felt like it was right and I usually go with my instincts quite a lot. Starting with the basic truth that came from the mouths of our station staff that deal with people and see that every day and after rounds with creatives to get to that point, it honestly didn’t feel too cute. We got it.ĭo you have any reservations on the campaign being too cute for a fairly serious subject matter? They read the lyrics word for word and they didn’t change it much from concept to market and it felt right. The day I saw this concept, Adrian Mills rang me and did a little pre-sell and asked “still off the meeting? We’re gonna do a song” and I said “I am hanging up.” I thought it will be having this tacky little jingle but they came and presented it with the concept of the animation. What was your reaction when McCann thought of making a jingle sung by colored beans in gory situations? It’s hard to do that without sound like blaming because you definitely can’t blame your customers for safety issues. To people still look at that? I am not sure they do, especially younger people. Like in airports or train stations, there are so many signs telling you what to do and not what to do. What were your initial ideas when you approached McCann Melbourne for the campaign?įrom a brand perspective, it was about showing customers that we care about them and try to change their behavior and remind them to be safe around trains but not to be intrusive or yell at them or make it sort of a tactical enforcement because there has been a lot of that already. There’s actually a lot of thinking behind it,” she said.Īlsop shares with Marketing how the campaign started, their initial reaction with the singing colored beans and dumb ways to ruin a campaign? “It’s funny that because it’s so cute that there is this misconception that the thinking behind it is also cute and dumb. At the end of 2013, the Gunn Report revealed that the campaign was the most-awarded work in the world.

It’s another feather on the brand's cap – and it has been peppering its crown with lots since November 2012 when “Dumb Ways to Die” was launched. Chloe Alsop, marketing manager at Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia, flew to Manila this week to receive another award – this time as the Chief Marketing Communications Officer of the Year at the Tambuli Awards.

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