What it had to solve
Prevent smartphone use behind the wheel for a mobile operator whose own product is the distraction.
How it works
O2 Slovakia and agency Elite Solutions built a special app that controlled smartphone use while driving; drivers who didn't use the phone were rewarded with free data each month.
What it did
The work won a Member Club Gold Award in Interactive & Mobile / Mobile Apps at the Art Directors Club of Europe (2019 Annual); no usage figures were published on the award page.
Background
O2 Slovakia, a responsible Slovak mobile service provider, acknowledged its share of guilt in smartphone addiction — people use their phones everywhere, including behind the wheel — and decided to do something about it with a campaign to prevent smartphone use while driving.
With agency Elite Solutions, the operator created a special app that controlled smartphone use while driving. The mechanic inverted the usual carrier playbook: once drivers didn't use the phone, O2 rewarded them with free data each month — the telco's own product becoming the prize for restraint.
The work was recognised in the Art Directors Club of Europe's 2019 Annual with a Member Club Gold Award in the Interactive & Mobile / Mobile Apps class. Credits list Elite Solutions creative director Peter Šurin, art directors Andrej Valko, Maros Morvajov and Jozef Kyselica, and a programming team of eight.
Why it lands
The operator taking responsibility for its own product's distraction gives the campaign moral standing.
Free data is a reward the telco can give infinitely at low marginal cost, and it only pays out for good behaviour.
The mechanic makes safe driving a measurable, ongoing habit rather than a one-off pledge.
Award recognition in a mobile-apps class validated the product itself, not just the idea.
What you can take
The best apology for selling the distraction is paying for restraint: a telco rewarding non-use makes its own product the prize.
Since then
The project is recorded in the ADC*E 2019 Annual as a Member Club Gold Award winner; no post-campaign usage numbers were published on the award page.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The sources
- Rewarding app for responsible drivers adceurope.org