Auckland Transport’s ‘Sober Driver Sorted’ Winter 2012 campaign was based around the launch of the makeithome Facebook page that provided an ‘app’ game for participants to select who was going to be the Sober Driver before travelling out to social events.  The campaign was designed to engage people in a fun way and also encourage them to use the app on an ongoing basis. It removed the dilemma of selecting the Sober Driver from participants and allowed the appointed Sober Driver to opt-out.

The game itself used the mechanic of a ‘car’ that was filled with participants and then randomly offered the responsibility of being the Sober Driver to one of the participants.  The confirmed Sober Driver received a prize such as Wendy’s vouchers or music downloads.

A media campaign was booked targetting social media-savvy users and Aucklanders aged 18-24 years who were likely to be consuming alcohol in social situations.  The makeithome Facebook page and app were so popular that the media campaign was extended another two weeks with participation in the game still growing as the campaign ended.  At the time of entry, the page had 891 Likes and over 5,000 gameplays.

This was Auckland Transport’s first social media activation intended to educate young people who may contemplate drink driving to safely plan their social outings.  It complemented the NZ Transport Agency’s ‘Legend’ campaign that encouraged young people to think about helping friends make the right decisions around drinking and driving by planning ahead before heading out, using a social media engagement tool.