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Dumb Ways to Die

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A screenshot from the animated video during the song's final chorus shows the characters and their resulting "deaths".

Dumb Ways to Die is a public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia to promote rail safety. The campaign went viral through sharing and social media starting in November 2012.[1]

Campaign

The campaign was devised by advertising agency McCann Melbourne. It appeared in newspapers, local radio, outdoor advertising, throughout the Metro Trains network and on Tumblr.[2] John Mescall, executive creative director of McCann, said "The aim of this campaign is to engage an audience that really doesn’t want to hear any kind of safety message, and we think Dumb Ways To Die will."[2] McCann estimated that within two weeks it had generated at least $50 million worth of global media value in addition to more than 700 media stories, for "a fraction of the cost of one TV ad".[3] According to Metro Trains, the campaign contributed to a more than 30% reduction in "near-miss" accidents, from 13.29 near-misses per million kilometres in November 2011 – January 2012, to 9.17 near-misses per million kilometres in November 2012 – January 2013.[4]

Video

A video was developed by Pat Baron, animated by Julian Frost and produced by Cinnamon Darvall.[2] It was uploaded to YouTube on 14 November 2012 and made public two days later. It used black comedy and featured "a variety of cute characters killing themselves in increasingly idiotic ways"[5] culminating in three characters being killed by trains due to unsafe behaviour. It was viewed 2.5 million times within 48 hours[1] and 4.7 million times within 72 hours.[5] Within two weeks the video had been viewed 28 million times and spawned 85 parodies. As of June 2013 the video had had 49 million views. [3]

McCann released an "Official Karaoke Edition" of the video on 26 November.[6]

Song

The song "Dumb Ways to Die" from the video was written by John Mescall with music by Ollie McGill from The Cat Empire, who also produced it.[7] It was performed by Emily Lubitz, the lead vocalist of Tinpan Orange, with McGill providing backing vocals.[1][5] It was released on iTunes, attributed to the artist "Tangerine Kitty" (a reference to Tinpan Orange and The Cat Empire). Within 24 hours of its release, it was in the top 10 on the iTunes chart and on 18 November was the sixth most popular song globally,[1] ahead of "Diamonds" by Rihanna.[8] It was described as "Australia's biggest ever viral hit".[7] It also reached the top 10 on iTunes charts in Hong Kong,[9] Singapore,[10] Taiwan,[11] and Vietnam.[12] Within two weeks, 65 cover versions had been uploaded to YouTube.[3]

Game

In May 2013, Metro released a "Dumb Ways to Die" game as an app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.[13][14] The game invites players to avoid the dangerous activities engaged in by the various characters featured throughout the campaign.[15] Within the app, players can also pledge to "not do dumb stuff around trains".[16][17]

Reception

Simon Crerar of the Herald Sun wrote that the song's "catchy chorus is the most arresting hook since PSY's Gangnam Style".[5] Alice Clarke writing in the Herald Sun described the video as "adorably morbid" and wrote that Victoria's public transport "broke its long running streak of terrible ads".[18]

Daisy Dumas of the Sydney Morning Herald described it as "darkly cute - and irksomely catchy" and the chorus as "instant earworm material".[19]

Michelle Starr of CNET described the campaign as "The Darwin Awards meets The Gashlycrumb Tinies" and the song as "a cutesy indie-pop hit in the style of Feist".[20]

Logan Booker of Gizmodo described it as "taking a page out of the Happy Tree Friends book and mixing cute with horrifying".[21]

Karen Stocks of YouTube Australia said the video was unusual due to the high number of views from mobile devices.[22] Stocks attributed the success to "A snappy headline. A catchy tune that gets stuck in your head. And a message that is easy to understand and perfectly targeted."[22]

The Sunshine Coast Daily described it as "the Gangnam Style of train safety campaigns".[23]

Arlene Paredes of the International Business Times said the video was "brilliant in getting viewers' attention" and "arguably one of the cutest PSAs ever made".[24]

Controversy and censorship in Russia

In February 2013, Artemy Lebedev's blog was censored by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government agency in charge of Internet censorship, for including the video.[25] Later that day, the YouTube video was also censored, with the "This content is not available in your country due to a legal complaint from the government" message. The official takedown notice sent to Livejournal.com was quoted, in part, by Lebedev in his blog.

The song's lyrics contains a description of different ways of committing suicide, such as: using drugs beyond their expiration date, standing on an edge of a platform, running across the rails, eating superglue and other. The animated personages demonstrate dangerous ways of suicide in attractive for children and teenagers comic format. The lines such as "hide in a dryer" and "what's this red button do?" contain an incitement to commit those acts.

Awards

The campaign won seven Webby Awards in 2013 including the Best Animation Film & Video and Best Public Service & Activism (Social Content & Marketing).[26]

It won three Siren Awards, run by Commercial Radio Australia, including the Gold Siren for best advertisement of the year and Silver Sirens for the best song and best campaign.[27][28]

The Public Service Announcement was awarded the Grand Trophy in the 2013 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards. www.australiancreative.com.au/news/dumb-ways-does-it-again

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Metro's tongue-in-cheek transport safety animated video goes viral on social media". The Age. 19 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "McCann's dumb ways to die". Australian Creative. 19 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Aussie viral video, 'Dumb Ways to Die', lives on". The Age. 29 November 2012.
  4. ^ Stephen Cauchi (14 February 2013). "No dumb luck: Metro claims safety success". The Age. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d "Cute Melbourne safety video Dumb Ways to Die becomes internet smash". Herald Sun. 19 November 2012.
  6. ^ "Dumb Ways to Die spawns karaoke spin off". Mumbrella. 27 November 2012.
  7. ^ a b "'Dumb ways to die' goes viral". 3AW. 19 November 2012.
  8. ^ "McCann creates Australia's biggest ever viral hit". B&T Marketing & Media. 10 November 2012.
  9. ^ "Hong Kong iTunes Top 20 Songs". 21 November 2012.
  10. ^ "Singapore iTunes Top 20 Songs". 21 November 2012.
  11. ^ "Taiwan iTunes Top 20 Songs". 21 November 2012.
  12. ^ "Vietnam iTunes Top 20 Songs". 21 November 2012.
  13. ^ "Dumb Ways to Die". Apple App Store. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  14. ^ "Dodge Piranhas and Swat Wasps in new 'Dumb Ways to Die' Game". Creativity Online. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Dumb Ways to Die: You have to Keep Them Alive, or Die Hilariously". App Chronicles. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  16. ^ Nudd, Tim. "Dumb Ways to Die Is Now a Video Game for the iPhone and iPad McCann Australia extends beloved train-safety ad". AdWeek. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  17. ^ "Dumb Ways To Die tops charts with new iPhone + iPad app game via McCann + Barrel Of Donkeys". Campaign Brief. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  18. ^ "How we've cornered the market in terrible advertising". Herald Sun. 26 November 2012.
  19. ^ "Being dumb is almost cool with surprise advertising hit". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 November 2012.
  20. ^ "Metro Trains PSA details dumb ways to die". CNET. 19 November 2012.
  21. ^ "Adorable, Yet Horrifying Metro Trains Safety Video Quietly Becomes A YouTube Sensation". Gizmodo. 19 November 2012.
  22. ^ a b "Mobile devices help 'Dumb ways to die' become the fastest spreading Australian viral brand video of all time". mUmBRELLA. 19 November 2012.
  23. ^ "Dumb ways to die video the Gangam Style of train safety". Sunshine Coast Daily. 20 November 2012.
  24. ^ "Viral Video with 8M Views: "Dumb Ways to Die" Melbourne Metro Ad - Cute, Twisted, Brilliant". International Business Times. 5 January 2013.
  25. ^ "Пост в блоге Лебедева заблокировали за клип о тупых способах самоубийства". Lenta.ru. 5 February 2013.
  26. ^ "Melbourne rail safety message wins Webby". The Age. 1 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Dumb Ways to Die dominates Sirens". B&T. 10 May 2013.
  28. ^ "Dumb Ways to Die campaign dominates best radio ads of the year". Commercial Radio Australia.

External links

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