Where: South Africa  

The challenge: 

Drinking before driving is a norm in South Africa with 87% of drivers admitting taking to the road after alcohol consumption. They are even using technology to avoid police roadblocks on their homeward journey.  

We worked with our client Heineken SA to come up with a smart solution to disrupt this antisocial behaviour and nudge people towards safer driving.  

The execution:  

The driver navigation app Waze has established itself as a genuine driver partner. But it has been misused by drink-drivers in South Africa to identify and avoid metro police roadblocks after leaving bars and nightclubs.  

This was the starting point for a campaign using Waze to deliver a series of ‘When You Drive Never Drink’ messages to disrupt key moments en route associated with taking a decision to drink drive. The messages reinforced each other with the aim of changing behaviour. 

One hundred Heineken outlets were identified and plotted on Waze and the first intervention was made with users searching for these outlets. Once they had signalled their search and before navigating to the outlet, they received the ‘When You Drive Never Drink’ message to make them aware of the dangers. 

Takeovers within the app were activated with the warning as soon as users came near an outlet and an Uber voucher was offered as an alternative to getting behind the wheel.  

Additionally, the Arrow signposts within Waze were adapted to target drivers potentially leaving key outlets late afternoon. When opening the app to navigate their way home they were served the vital message and offered an alternative to driving. 

The results:  

Through intelligent use of technology working with geo-location, time and messaging data, Heineken’s 33-day campaign made a positive difference. It delivered more than 3 million impressions in highly receptive moments to potential drink drivers.  

Nearly 10,000 drivers who received messages made journeys during the period and all the Uber vouchers allocated to the campaign were downloaded. The campaign changed attitudes to the problem in South Africa and reinforced Heineken’s position in leading the drink driving conversation. 

Check out more inspiring examples of our work on SDG3.