THE CAMPAIGN: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Click It or Ticket campaign focuses on educating drivers and passengers on the importance of buckling up and always wearing a seat belt. Nearly 10% of Americans are still not buckling up when they get in their vehicle, with 18- to 34-year-old men as the most likely to not wear their seat belt and the most likely to die in an unbelted crash. High-visibility enforcement combined with high doses of media messaging has demonstrated positive behavioral change. THE STRATEGY: The campaign includes national television, radio, digital, social and out-of-home tactics. For the 2021 campaign, media research showed that 18- to 34-year-old men were twice as likely to play video games than other demographics, with 52% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 46% of 25- to 34-year-olds reporting that they binge-game weekly. This provided NHTSA a prime opportunity to create a presence within gaming that would capture their target audience’s attention. To support the paid media plan and accompany gaming placements, creatively we wanted a digital content video that played on the target audience’s common interest while highlighting the active enforcement of seat belt laws nationwide, focusing on those who actively choose to not buckle up. THE PRODUCTION: “It’s No Game” is a smart and dry humor spot with a surprising dark twist that packs a punch for our cliché serious gamer—an Alpha nerd. Casting and performance were vital to the success of the spot—we did not want to portray a caricature, but a real type of person that felt familiar and built a connection to the target audience. Working with Rupert Cresswell (director) and AlkemyX (production company), all game play featured in the spot was created and rendered using real gaming software rather than photoreal cinematic CG animatics to give the game play footage authenticity. The crash brings a tone shift to deliver the message that life isn’t a game and there are no do-overs, so be sure to buckle up.