Portland Bureau of
Transportation (PBOT)

Challenge: In 2018 the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and the Vision Zero Task Force engaged BPN to create Struck, an integrated campaign to convince Portland drivers to slow down. Our objective was to reduce deadly car crashes in Portland; through stakeholder and focus group research, we determined that the campaign needed to be bigger than just awareness for the lowered speed limit. A key insight came from Capt. Michael Crebs, who leads the Traffic Division for the Portland Police Bureau. After hearing Capt. Crebs explain how drivers’ lives are also deeply impacted by a deadly crash, BPN’s creative team developed the idea that by preventing a deadly crash, a driver would actually save two lives.

The Solution: After many rounds of campaign ideas, meetings with stakeholders (internal as well as with Portland’s Vision Zero Task Force, Families for Safe Streets) and focus group research with Portland residents, it was deemed that the campaign needed to be bigger than just awareness for the lowered speed limit.

A key insight came from Capt. Michael Crebs, who leads the Traffic Division for the Portland Police Bureau. “The breakthrough came from a community meeting where Capt. Crebs explained how drivers’ lives are also deeply impacted by a deadly crash,” said Rob Thompson, BPN’s Executive Creative Director. “From that insight, we developed the idea that by preventing a deadly crash, a driver would actually save two lives.”  

The campaign aired April through June, 2018 with limited paid media exposure. The local TV was focused in news programming. The stations classified the spot as a PSA and gave extra value in the form of airing units at no charge. The spot aired in cinema for larger-than-life impact. Out-of-home included posters on heavily traveled roads and bus sides. The out-of-home vendors provided bonus inventory. On Facebook, paid social ads ran in the form of video and GIFs.

Results: Amongst Portland residents, there was overwhelming enthusiasm (91%) for the message communicated.  BPN conducted post-campaign research with Portland residents. Overall, the City of Portland’s Vision Zero campaign was a success— quantitative and projectional research shows the campaign had an impact on Portland residents, both in their perceptions of safe driving, and intent to shift driving behaviors.

With 60% spontaneous message comprehension among Portland residents, it demonstrates a clear understanding of the message. The emotional resonance of the campaign was clear in many of the open-ended responses, and the reaction to the video was very positive, with few detractors.

The research illustrated a substantial impact on driving behavior with 56% of those who had previously-seen the campaign in Portland saying it impacted their driving behavior, and 60% of those viewing the campaign for the first time in the research said it would impact their driving behavior in the future.

But, the most gratifying result was that Portland traffic fatalities were down 28% from the previous year.

“Struck” aired April through June, 2018, utilizing television, outdoor, transit, and social placements; the spot also aired in cinemas, supported by out-of-home posters on heavily traveled roads and bus sides, and generated 91% positive campaign sentiments from local residents surveyed, with 60% respondents agreeing to change their driving after viewing the campaign. Most importantly, Portland experienced a decrease in local crashes by 24% — the first experienced since 2014 — in the period following campaign deployment.