Marketing Case Analysis

- (Case: Dumb Ways to Die)

Submitted by Group 13, Section A

I.

Case facts :
a. Traditional public service ads focusing on deaths and instructing to take safe
measures did not seem to have any impact on the carelessness of the customers.
b. McCann advertising agency was given the responsibility to design a new public
service campaign around train safety targeting the young audience with a limited
budget of $200,000.
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c. 'Dumb Ways to die' proved to be a very effective campaign; in the first 10 days it
gathered 27,000 votes and later on it gathered 30 million Youtube hits. It led to a
reduction of 21% in serious train accidents.

II.

Statement of the Problem:

a. Number of accidents in Melbourne was increasing.
b. Serious incidents in Victoria went up to 28 in 2011 from 21 in 2008.
c. Metro Trains Melbourne (MT) was trying to develop a new Public Service
Announcement, which would reduce the carelessness of the young people around
trains. One of the main objectives was to design a train safety campaign and create a
buzz out of it so that it would become a part of the daily discussions of people's lives.

III.

Causes of the Problem:

a. Carelessness of people [especially teenagers] around trains was increasing the number
of deaths in accidents around trains.
b. People were not aware that that being careless around trains can actually cause serious
accidents and also might lead to deaths in some cases. Thus they were casual around
trains without thinking of the consequences.

IV. Decision Criteria and Alternative Solutions:

Decision Criteria:In order to reach a precise and captive audience in a low budget manner, there are
different ways of targeting and communicating with the audience in traditional as well
as non-traditional marketing. In this case, the different alternatives we would like to
suggest include Guerrilla marketing, interactive marketing and cross- promotion,
social gaming and campaign marketing i.e., events & competitions. The decision
criteria which served as a basis for evaluation of different alternatives are:
1. Reach: It refers to the total number of individuals or households exposed to the
campaign during a given period. For any given viewer, they have been "reached" by
the work if they have viewed it at all during a specified period.
Reach can be measured by the number of flyers , posters and other such means
distributed in case of guerrilla marketing; the number of people actively involved in
promoting their stations using social media and other means in case of crosspromotion; the number of players involved in social gaming and the number of
competitors enrolled in campaign marketing.
2. Frequency: Frequency is the average number of times an advertisement or
marketing initiative is shown to an individual or a household. Frequency is usually
measured by the facts and statistics as illustrated in the campaign calendar.

3. Relevance: Relevance refers to how important and relevant the content of the
campaign is to the target audience, i.e., if they feel it is important to the matter at
hand. Relevance is typically based on market research including actual responses of
audience to the campaign. In cases of campaign marketing (eg - video making), it
can be measured by the number of views per video.
4. Communication effectiveness: Communication effectiveness essentially refers to
how successful a marketing campaign is in delivering the information to the target
audience. To measure communication effectiveness, an in-home test can be done both
before and after the advertisement is put into media and after it is broadcasted. In an
in-home test, a video is taken or downloaded into the homes of target audience, who
then view the campaign and the effectiveness is tested. This measure can be adopted
in case of campaign marketing as well as guerrilla marketing.

IV.

Alternative strategies:

Guerrilla Marketing:
Public Service Announcements are usually unattractive, static and highly unnoticed
by audience and hence are ineffective. If the budget is small, Guerrilla marketing can
be executed. This low cost, unconventional way of marketing involves using graffiti,
sticker bombing, flyers etc. This can be done only in railway stations to reach the
targeted audience at seasonal intervals every year.
Pros:

a. Cost to reach is much higher.

b. Chance of going viral is high.
Cons:
a. Because of the nature of guerrilla marketing, the message and objective must be
clearly defined in order to avoid being misunderstood or confusion.
b. They run considerable risk of backlash.

Interactive marketing & cross promotion:

We can have a game/competition arranged among all the stations. : The station with
the minimum number of accidents in it would be the winner of the game. And a
banner can be placed in each station showing the number of days it has operated
without accidents.
This would encourage the people in that vicinity & community to be more
cautious for that cause. The message of safety in trains can be indirectly placed in the
minds of people. We can have facebook pages and twitter accounts for this campaign
on social media to spread the word of mouth about the campaign. The number of
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likes, posts, comments, and shares on this platform could help us evaluate the erach of
this campaign.
Pros:
a. The audience will try to be more responsible & careful
b. The reach depends upon how individual perception & response of the message
takes place.
Cons:
a. The accidents taking place in level crossing can not be accounted..

Social gaming:
A social gaming application can be developed to attract the audience who are inclined
towards gaming (generally the youth). This is the segment of people who are more
careless and more probable for an accident. The moral influence through their peers
will have a nuclear reaction on information transmission.
Pros:
a. The social gaming can boost the reach with children & youth in particular.
b. The exact effectiveness is each to evaluate.
Cons:
a. It would be limited just within the audience who are game enthusiasts.

V.

Recommendation:
Out of the alternative solutions given, the one that we recommend is the Interactive
marketing & cross promotion as this is the most suitable among the three. The
competitive feeling among the train boarders would encourage them to become more
careful and aware towards safety rules. Gradually there would be a shift in their
behaviour and the objective could be achieved. Moreover, the recommended solution
fits under all the 5 Ms of advertising which is shown in the flowchart.

MISSION
Objective of creating
awareness about
safety measures is
fulfilled

MONEY
The cost for the
entire campaign will
be well under budget
due to the use of
social media and
other conventional
media

MESSAGE
The message
generation along
with the awareness
should be
automatically
created as the result
of self-involvement

MEDIA
Major media types that
can be used are bill
boards (print) at
stations, social media
(facebook and twitter),
and T.V.

MEASUREMENT
The count for the accidents that
occurred can be easily tracked for
all the locations. The programs
reach can be measured by the likes
and shares of the facebook and
twitter pages for the campaign.