Norfolk Southern needed a national campaign to incite people to think smart around railroad crossings. Current scare tactics and PSAs by the national railroad crossing safety organization, Operation Lifesaver, weren’t connecting with the key audience—youth males, 16-24.

To be authentic, this untraditional approach needed to be extended to the online space. The website is designed site in cartoon fashion, as if Brainy himself were the creator. It includes a rotating brain as if floating in space, bizarre videos that can be forwarded to friends and ranked in order of favorites, a link to Brainy’s MySpace page, a schedule of Brainy’s events around town, the ability to post comments, a place to suggest funny things to do while waiting for a train to pass, and railroad crossing safety quiz.

Our first campaign in Memphis, Tenn., showed a significant improvement in brand awareness (0% to 66%), in awareness of the importance of being safe at railroad crossings (78% to 92%), and in attitudes and behaviors toward railroad safety.

During our second campaign in Raleigh, NC, we learned that while event marketing is taking place, traffic coming to the site increases, as does site engagement: pages per visit went up by 22% and time on site increased 41%.