Ghost Chips
The Power of Cultural Ownership
Drink driving is a big problem in New Zealand, particularly with young Māori men. And it's even a bigger problem trying to tell them anything. Whenever they see a typical drink driving ad full of dead people, they switch off. The challenge was finding a way to break through with an audience that actively resisted traditional safety messaging.
The Insight
Here's a truth about behaviour change: People don't change because you show them consequences; they change when their mates expect better of them. Young Māori men weren't ignoring road safety because they didn't understand the risks – they were ignoring it because the messaging never reflected their cultural reality.
The Campaign Thinking
Instead of the usual "Drink and Drive, you're a bloody idiot" approach, we flipped the script to "Don't Drink and Drive, Legend!" Rather than trying to emulate cool, contemporary rangatahi culture, we created our own fictitious East Coast surf vibe to give it a unique, aspirational feel.
Results
Millions of dollars in earned PR with zero paid digital media
Hundreds of user-generated memes and remixes
Merchandise still selling over a decade later
Became NZ's biggest meme of 2011
Entered the permanent cultural lexicon of New Zealand
What This Teaches Us
When safety messaging becomes part of culture rather than interrupting it, it gains power that lasts for generations. By creating content that young Māori men could own rather than resist, we didn't just create an ad – we created a cultural touchstone that's still influencing behaviour more than a decade later.