Mobile Drug Testing Hits the Road in New Transport for NSW Campaign

The NSW Government has launched a new mass media public education campaign created by Ogilvy & Mather Sydney which aims to warn NSW drivers that there is no escaping Mobile Drug Testing, or MDTs. 

The first-ever NSW campaign focussing on drug-driving, the campaign has specifically been launched in the lead up to the Christmas and New Year holiday period. 

It leads with the message “if you take drugs and drive, there’s no escaping  it”, and includes 30-sec and 15-sec TVCs, supported by radio, digital banners, OOH, in-venue, Indigenous and CALD[1] radio, and CALD digital banners.

“Ogilvy has a strong history of creating behavioural change campaigns that send powerful messages and motivate results,” said Derek Green, ECD Ogilvy Sydney. 

“ The Mobile Drug Testing (MDT) campaign has been designed specially to grab the attention of NSW drivers and highlight if they take drugs and drive they will be caught, no matter where they are.  With more MDT than ever before, the message comes through loud and clear; you will not escape.”

The campaign was officially launched this week by Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Troy Grant and Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Duncan Gay, following the release of alarming statistics that show this year, 1 in 10 MDTs have come back positive, compared to around 1 in 300 positive Random Breath Tests for alcohol.

In response, the NSW Government is tripling Mobile Drug Testing to 97,000 tests each year by 2017 to help combat these statistics.  The MDT campaign forms part of the awareness strategy, and was created by Ogilvy Sydney for Transport for NSW following a competitive pitch earlier this year. 

The entire campaign was produced in-house in collaboration with Ogilvy Australia production agency One20, and multicultural consultancy, Etcom.