Buckle Face

Yippee-Ki-Yay all you bucklers.

Concept | Media Placement | Strategy | Video Production

Put your seat belt into action!

The Challenge

The Click It or Ticket campaign is pretty serious. We’re not selling herbal fragrances or diet soft drinks. We’re talking about saving lives. The state average for seat belt usage is 88.9%. That’s a great statistic for the household adoption of a new sugary breakfast pastry, but when it comes to combating the grim reaper, it could be higher.

In 2018, 29% of auto-related fatalities in Utah were unrestrained. Many of those fatalities could have survived with either minor or no injuries, had the occupants been belted. From survey data, we knew that belters reported being open to the influence of others. Sometimes you just need a good old reminder to put your belt on. Our main audience of non-belters were males, aged 18-54. Who (or what) could break through the clutter to prompt them to take action and buckle up?

The Solution

Have you ever noticed that a seat belt buckle looks like a human face? You might need to squint a little. Maybe add some hair… eyes… teeth… What if it could talk? What if its voice reminded you of something that sounded nostalgic, but was actually a reminder to buckle up? What if it had a mohawk? Camo face paint? Swollen cheeks? WHAT?

The Emmy® award-winning campaign is called Buckle Face. Simply put, belt buckles take on the persona of 1980’s action heroes. With a little twist on their famous quotes, they encourage you to buckle up.

The Results

Video viewing rates blew away the industry average for Facebook and Instagram with a 196% higher engagement rate and a 35% higher rate on YouTube ads, proving that when you show an audience something they love, they’ll stay for your message.