VW fatigue detection ad wins best radio ad of the year

An ad promoting Volkswagen’s Fatigue Detection Technology has won the 2014 Gold Siren award for the best radio ad of the year.  The ad, “Road” written by Jim Curtis and Ryan Fitzgerald from DDB Sydney, also took out two Silver Siren awards for winning the single and craft categories, announced this morning at a breakfast in Melbourne.
 
The winning ad is part of a campaign dramatising the hypnotic effect long drives can have on the human mind. You hear the inner-thoughts of a character wandering off the road. Volkswagen’s Driver Fatigue Detection Technology quickly brings them back on track.
 
The ad successfully centers the product directly at the heart of the idea and a touch of humour helps deliver the fatigue detection message in an engaging and memorable way.
 
Judge, Paul Le Couteur from Flagstaff Studios said: “This campaign really does use hypnotic technique to lull us into a place where we really get the point that fatigue is a major factor in road accidents. Great writing and production makes this campaign sing.”
 
The prize for Curtis, Fitzgerald and Volkswagen is airfares, accommodation, plus automatic entry and tickets to the Cannes Advertising Lions Festival in June 2014. 
 
The winners of the Silver Siren for the best radio campaign (issued for 3 or more ads) were John Mescall and Pat Baron from McCann for a Metro Train ad campaign titled “Metro Notify”. The three ads in the campaign used the voice of Australian comedian Jean Kittson and was promoting the Metro Trains “Notify” app that lets commuters know if their train is running late.
 
Listen to the winning Volkswagen ad below and see find the scripts and audio of the full list of finalists here

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