Sheen Sagalongos' Blog

This has got to be one of the best commercials ever. It is simply a masterpiece. A commercial by Sussex Safer Roads, an entity that works “to reduce road casualties across Sussex with the three E’s – Education, Engineering and Enforcement,” has immediately caught my attention from the get-go. I watched diligently as the story unfolded and a surge of feelings of awe and sadness came over me as the scene ended and the credits rolled.

Why? Why was I so affected with this ad when I don’t even have a car to drive myself? I hardly ever drive and constantly use Translink’s awesome services. Did the creator of the commercial intend for this to happen or was I just being too melodramatic?

After a few minutes of research, it turns out that every aspect of this commercial was planned and was there for a reason. Alexander Commercials, the company who created this advertisement, briefly talks about how the idea and execution of the commercial came about on their “The Making Of” page.

Daniel Cox, the writer and director of the Embrace Life commercial, chose to film in the family’s living room mainly to “represent the feelings many people equate with their car… a level of safety and protection from the ‘outer’ world.” Additionally, the slow motion technique greatly added to the dramatic effect of the ad “allowing the audience the time to be drawn into the film’s world and to let them connect with and project their own feelings onto the scenario.” I also thought that one simple, yet important, moment was the big switch in the tone of the background music when the father “crashes” at the 0:50 mark.

Besides the obvious message or reminder to always wear our seat belts, I think one other thing that we can take away from this (from a marketing prospective) is that the best way to capture your intended audience’s time and attention is to engage them emotionally and use a better non-threatening strategy like most smoking, DUI or other similar commercials do. Targeting the affective component of attitude can definitely make a consumer think twice and identify him/herself with the actors and hopefully marketers achieve what they aim for; in this case, getting people to wear their seat belts.