Client: Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell
Job: To design a campaign to help prevent underage drinking and drunken driving in the state.
Agency: Anheuser-Busch
The concept: Recent surveys have found that 86 percent of Virginia 12- to 17-year-olds do not drink alcohol and that teens cite their parents as the No. 1 influence on their decision to drink. The Department of Transportation also says drunken-driving fatalities are down 56 percent statewide since 1982. Anheuser-Busch created public service announcements, designed to coincide with heavy-driving holidays such as Thanksgiving, to remind people not to drink and drive.
The plan: Three 30-second radio spots, all recorded by the attorney general, will air on 25 stations throughout the state from now through mid-December — a key holiday party time. The spots will air more than 4,000 times on a variety of stations, including those that play country, oldies, top-40, hip-hop and alternative music and news, talk and sports. One ad reminds adults to select a designated driver when drinking, and two others remind parents of the importance of talking to their children about underage and abusive drinking.
Creative team: Anheuser-Busch’s corporate responsibility group and Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell.
Background: Since 1982, Anheuser-Busch and 600 of its wholesalers around the country have invested more than $675 million in community-based programs and ad campaigns to discourage underage drinking and drunken driving.
Working on next: Anheuser-Busch is working with 24 state attorneys general, all of whom are recording similar public service announcements that are airing throughout the fall.
