The Road Whisperer

We called the two-sides of our audiences’ feelings about driving, after recently passing their tests, the New Driver Paradox. They were, of course, excited and elated about passing, and keen to drive a lot and use their skills, but they also knew they were not experienced drivers, and so felt some nervousness about particular manoeuvres and situations. The crux was that new drivers knew they still had a lot to learn.

But we also knew that we couldn’t just tell them to slow down or offer up tips in an authoritative way. We’d have to help them understand more about their driving and find ways to make it easier and safer without seeming as though we were telling them what to do.

We were looking for a vehicle or a person who could impart wisdom in a way that would mean our audience would listen to and absorb it.

Enter the Road Whisperer.

A figure so far removed from their worlds and their lives that he could appear in the backs of cars, and on their mobiles to give them bits of information and tips to help make their driving safer, without them being aware that this was what was happening.

The Road Whisperer is a laid-back American character, old enough to have done a lot of driving and to have seen a lot of the world.

He is born of a slice of American culture; older, cool, sure of himself, laid back, doesn’t take himself too seriously. He appears when you need him and can help with some of those tricky driving situations like which lane to take at roundabouts and how to tackle driving at night.

And of course, the channels we use him in are right where our new drivers are, on their mobile phones, in VOD and cinema. He appears in GIFs too in the visual formats our audience are used to and use daily.