Fond memories on a country road pave the way to this tale's sobering climax

A sobering French road safety ad by DDB Paris reminds us that danger can lie close to home

Published On
Apr 02, 2019

Editor's Pick

A young man reminisces fondly about his local country lane in a new government road safety campaign from France--but there's a heartbreaking twist with a message about the dangers of familiarity. 

The spot, created by DDB Paris and directed by Pantera, unfolds as the camera takes us along a country road from within a car, as the narrator tells how he's grown up taking this route with his two friends, Pierre and Yanis. He travels past the ghosts of his former self as he traveled along it the first day of school, played soccer on it, met girls there and laughed and joked in his friends' car. "We always felt confident on this road, safe," he says. Finally the car stops as we see an accident on the side of the road and it's revealed the narrator is a firefighter on his way to the scene -- in which his friends were involved. As he runs to their overturned car final message of the ad is that "The roads we know by heart are often the ones that kill us."

Credits

Date
Apr 02, 2019
Client :
French Road Safety Organization
Agency :
DDB-Paris
Executive Creative Director :
Alexander Kalchev
Creative Director :
Alexis Benbehe
Creative Director :
Pierre Mathonat
Copywriter :
Sonia Dos Santos
Art Director :
Julien Beuvry
Head of TV Production :
Corinne Persch
TV Production :
Laurie Delahayes
Account Executive :
Pierre Guengant
Account Executive :
Nicolas Kabassakalis
Account Director :
Andéole Vu Dinh Ba
Associate Managing Director :
Vincent Leorat
Managing Director :
Sebastien Genty
Production :
SOLAB
Director :
Pantera & Co
Executive Producer :
Nicolas Tiry
Director of Photography :
Zack Spiger
Post Producer :
Firm
Sound Production :
Maul Productions
Sound Production :
Studio5
Delegate for Road Safety :
Emmanuel Barbe
Communication Director :
Laurence Derrien

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Project Type