Metro train's "Dumb Ways To Die"

Metro Trains ‘Dumb ways to die’ video goes viral

A safety video for Melbourne’s Metro Trains has gone viral.

The three-minute musical cartoon, which is designed to curb preventable train-related deaths, has amassed 2.3m views on YouTube in 48 hours – with no media spend.

(9.30am November 19 update: 4.7m views now)

Since it launched at the end of last week, ‘Dumb ways to die’ has been ‘liked’ on YouTube 42,000 times – more than double that of another popular Australian ad to go viral, ‘Beer chase’ for Carlton Draught.

The song, sung by an unknown Melbourne artist, is currently ranked fifth in the singer/songwriter category of iTunes.

The video was on the front page of Reddit for six hours, and “has gone nuts on Tumblr”, according to the man who wrote the ad, McCann ECD John Mescall.

He told Mumbrella on Sunday: “Of course, we wanted it to go viral, but it’s rare that all the elements you need fit into place. Just one thing could kill it.”

“If it wasn’t catchy enough, or the safety message had come at the beginning and not the end, it wouldn’t have worked,” he said.

“People don’t want to share advertising. They want to share stories and content. Dumb ways to die is very likeable. And if you really like something, you want to share it.”

Media spend on the campaign kicks off next week.

At the time of posting, Dumb Ways To Die had just moved to number one on the Viral Video Chart, ahead of Rihanna.

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. 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." 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". 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 - January 2011/12, to 9.17 near-misses per million kilometres in November - January 2012/13.

For more info:
http://mumbrella.com.au/metro-trains-dumb-ways-to-die-video-goes-viral-126171

Why is the advertising campaign successful?
1. Within 24 hours of its launch, the Dumb Ways to Die song reached the top 10 chart of iTunes and was ranked number six on the singer/songwriter category on the global iTunes chart just 48 hours later. Within a week of its launch McCann's Dumb Ways To Die video had recorded over 15 million views and was pronounced "the fastest-growing Australian viral internet hit ever", outranking both Rihanna and Gangnam Style in global popularity.

2. Metro Trains has seen a 20% drop in “dumb behaviour” on train platforms in the Melbourne area in the two months since the launch of the popular Dumb Ways to Die safety video, the transport operator’s head marketer claimed last night.