Invisible hazards: Auckland Transport launches new road safety campaign via Motion Sickness
Auckland Transport has launched its latest campaign ‘Invisible Hazards’ via Motion Sickness. The campaign aims to reduce harm on the roads by emphasising the importance of paying attention while driving, with a focus on intersections, traffic lights and cyclist awareness.
Says Penny Batten, head of marketing, Auckland Transport: “Auckland Transport recognises there is too much harm happening on the roads across Auckland as a result of mistakes people don’t mean to make. Most people driving are trying to do the right thing and this campaign is a clever way of highlighting the micro moment where you can miss a hazard when not paying full attention.”
The campaign sheds light on inattentional blindness — a phenomenon that causes people to miss things happening right in front of them due to a lack of focus. Even seemingly harmless diversions, like thinking about what’s for dinner, can make you oblivious to the obvious. Studies show that drivers who experience inattentional blindness only see and perceive 50% of the dangers on the road with them.
Developed in collaboration with artists and body painters, everyday road hazards were camouflaged into their surroundings, to provide a realistic view of what happens when you lose focus while driving. All images were painted by hand and shot in camera, providing an authentic depiction of distraction.
Unlike traditional road safety ads that highlight hazards, Auckland Transport hid them in plain sight. The campaign features a suite of OOH, radio, and digital placements across Tāmaki Makaurau.
Hidden within this radio spot are three hazards, disguised by an articulation of everyday thoughts people have while driving.
This campaign marks the first piece of work Motion Sickness has done with Auckland Transport since being appointed to the Auckland Council panel last year.
Client: Auckland Transport
Head of Marketing: Penny Batten
Marketing Campaign Manager: Blake Walker
Agency: Motion Sickness
Executive Creative Director: Sam Stuchbury
Creative: Kelly France
Creative: Andrew Hathaway
Senior Designer: Hamish Steptoe
Designer: Nick Jamieson
Producer: Joseph McAlpine
Account Manager: Priya Marshall
Head of Strategy: Hilary Ngan Kee
Strategist: Chelsea Knowles
Photographer: Simeon Patience
Art Director: Dion Boothby
Illusion Artist: Marc Spijkerbosch
Artist: Tracey Lee Cassin
Body Painter: Yolanda Bartram
Retoucher: Cameron Jones
23 Comments
Great craft
Recently an employee photocopied off the lyric sheet to The Smiths ‘Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before’.
It reminds me of this.
Kelly and Hathaway vodka sprites all round.
Ironically I feel like I’ve seen this before. Auckland election campaign
https://boingboing.net/2009/05/04/art-student-creates.html
different subject. same technique.
https://www.adruby.com/print-ads/princes-trust-lost-generation
https://adsspot.me/subbrands/nokia-phonethics-34cb15b3a4ce
I guess Auckland Council can’t plagiarise their own 2013, Vote. Don’t work? Shame the remaster version isn’t as good.
How does this work help solve the problem? Sorry I’m being dumb but if it’s human nature not to be able to pay attention when other things are on your mind how does an ad campaign that tells you this actually change anything? A campaign that will run for a few weeks and be replaced by something else from AT? All the while thousands of other messages will be run by other brands.
Gosh we really do just do ads because we want to. Not because we should.
Nice craft I agree but let’s accept advertising is not a super power and maybe look for some proper solutions.
I’ve seen it so many times before. Most frequently as a child painted to disappear into a background for some “Feed the invisible children” campaign. It’s all too similar to Cecilia Paredes art from 2012, who from memory was commissioned by LV or a similar high end brand to do it for some print work for them. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – they’ve checked out a pile of old annuals and are ‘strongly inspired’ by the work in them.
Firstly, it’s a good print campaign but awful OOH idea, driving past in a car, you see just the bg (and don’t tell me that’s the idea, because it’s not)
But it’s not original, again. There was the AK election campaign, and this thing
https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/invisible
And this radio is basically this local “Thoughts” campaign… BOTH campaigns using Josh Thomson!
https://vimeo.com/175173195
Copying old work with ‘nice craft’ is going to get old at some point, surely.
Given Auckland City Council did this in 2013, and 2021’s “Keep It Real Online” was just 2011’s Klicksafe “Where’s Klaus?”
it appears we have a new 10 year rule, which makes the creatives job a lot easier!
looking through the archives to spite every piece of work that comes out of this place seems unfair. Some of their work is similar to something, most work certainly isn’t, it’s the same for everyone. This agency seems to be doing very well and putting a lot out. People are talking and whining, they must be doing something right…
The agency is doing great work as seen in Kiwi Lager, You’re Cooked and Rep Your Suburb. But fire safety, perfume, now this. There are always ‘I missed that’ moments but seems like it’s becoming a habit.
Chinese artist Liu Bolin has been doing this for years… https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/11/liu-bolin-the-invisible-man/100623/
Great work as usual MS. I know you’ll be getting a smile out of these jaded comments. Keep it up.
Come on, get it right. They didn’t rip off another campaign, they copied Liu Bolin.
As someone pointed out to me this afternoon, it’s Motion Sickness doing a ‘Motion Sickness’, again.
Still Better than 90% of the work most of the commenters have ever produced. Keep doing what you are doing MS!
what is the mark for better? Doing something that’s already been done? Of course people are whining because we’re in the business of creating ideas, so to see someone repeatedly copying other people’s work and getting praised for it is going to ‘ruffle feathers’.
Or rather ‘keep doing what other people have been doing.’
It’s not helpful for drivers, it’s distracting.
A lazy idea executed well. To win awards. Sigh.