Amélie Company

Did you know Colorado has one of the highest auto theft rates in the nation, with an average of 53 cars stolen every day? What about that 97% of car thieves are charged with additional crimes, such as armed robbery, identity theft, home invasion and drug crimes? Coloradans Against Auto Theft (CAAT) created the “Kilo Car” to educate Coloradans about the importance of simply locking their car to deter auto thieves.

The “Kilo Car” is a full-sized vehicle frame constructed of materials that look to be different types of drugs, from heroin to fentanyl. It will be displayed to represent the shocking truth that auto theft is a tool to commit additional crimes and a safety concern for the whole community.

Through extensive research, a key insight rose to the top: people understood brushing was important, but they didn’t feel that baby teeth were important. They didn’t know that cavities could spread from baby teeth to adult teeth or that drinking juice leads to tooth decay. Storytelling was a key component to reaching our target in a impactful way: thus the idea to compare the amount of sugar in juice to the amount in sugary treats was born. We deployed TV, radio and print to raise awareness. To create engagement and further education, a pre-roll and banner campaign drove traffic to a newly launched education section of CavitiesGetAround.com. The paid campaign was complemented by public relations to gain editorial coverage from influential media in order to underscore the importance of doing something about this chronic childhood disease.

“Puffing” your car – or leaving it running unattended – is illegal in Colorado. Every year, Coloradans Against Auto Theft (CAAT) joins forces with law enforcement and community partners across Colorado for “Puffer Week,” a statewide campaign that reminds drivers of the risks and consequences associated with puffing their car. This year, Amélie created “Thiever,” a fake mobile app for car thieves to scope out their next steal, as a new, fun way to engage with Colorado drivers about auto theft on social media. Modeled after popular dating apps, Thiever is comprised of profiles of the top stolen cars in Colorado, encouraging thieves to “swipe right,” or steal one of the cars. The week-long campaign resulted in 323,333 social media impressions, and Facebook posts received 30 times more engagement compared to evergreen content. Moreover, the campaign was featured in 49 news stories from media outlets across the state, garnering over 2.2 million earned media impressions and further educating the community about how attractive puffer cars are to thieves.

To prevent the spread of HIV infection, pre-exposure prophylaxis or “PrEP” has proven to be over 90% effective. Our challenge included reaching a highly targeted priority population of 18–25 year old men who have sex with men (MSM) with a special emphasis on African-American and Latino men because of their heightened risk, as well as transgender persons. Research revealed that awareness of PrEP was high though adoption remained sluggish. Our “Proud to be PrEPPED” campaign aims to overcome stigma associated with PrEP use by humanizing the stories of real people who are on it. The website offers vital facts, where to get PrEP and other resources.

When it comes to driving after a few casual drinks, can someone really know their limit, or are they merely basing that decision on a guess? In a push to encourage personal breathalyzer use, Amélie and CDOT put the accuracy of such guessing to question. We filmed an on-field stunt called Ballpark Guess during a professional baseball game, where we asked the stadium to guess whether a fan was sober enough to drive based on what he’d had to eat and drink during the game. We then live-tested that guess with a personal breathalyzer. And the ballpark guessed wrong. Fans then stepped up and put their own BAC guesses to the test, with similar results. Ultimately, we demonstrated the value of knowing one’s BAC to an entire ballpark, and beyond. We subsequently created a video of the stunt, and used traditional media like billboards and bus queens to push the message Before You Go, Know.