(April 18, 2012) BERLIN — Given a shockingly high figure of half a million car crashes a year caused by women drivers applying makeup — in the UK alone — awareness of this underestimated danger needs to be raised. Based on this insight the aim of a viral video by DDB Berlin and Volkswagen is to address a target audience of young women drivers and educate them about the danger of putting on makeup while driving.

The objective is to reach as many young women as possible all over the world.

In order to do so, DDB Berlin picked up the latest viral trend among young women: haul videos. These videos are often put on the web by girls, who buy cosmetics and give makeup tutorials on how to use the respective products. Together with the famous haul girl Nikkie, who has over 150,000 subscribers, DDB Berlin created the tutorial "a crash course to shine" carrying the message in a way that is designed for impact.

By using this platform the narrow target group is addressed directly in terms of age and interest. Having a famous makeup artist as the spokesperson makes the message relevant and even more believable to the target group.

"In only five days the video was shared, re-tweeted and has been watched almost 130,000 times. DDB Berlin and Volkswagen started a real discussion on YouTube with over 2,100 relevant comments. And this is exactly what we believe Social Creativity must do," says Eric Schoeffler, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Tribal Group.