DON’T RUSH TO THE OTHER SIDE

Client: NSW Govt.

Agency: Ogilvy Sydney

We erected giant sets of Pearly Gates at the State’s deadliest railway crossings. Transport for New South Wales needed a way to raise awareness of the dangers posed to car drivers failing to slow down or stop at rural railway crossings. With no internet and barely any radio signal, they believed the most effective way to do so was via traditional outdoor. We agreed with them on the outdoor part, but not so much with the traditional.

We instead decided to construct a 50ft ominous set of steel Pearly Gates and place them around several notoriously dangerous railway crossings in rural New South Wales. These would then automatically open slightly whenever a train was on approach.

Launched with much fanfare by Government and community leaders, these gates proved effective from both a safety and awareness perspective, generating an enormous groundswell of social media activity and PR.