Online Videos for Parents of Teen Drivers – A Case Study From Cdc's Injury Center

Background:  Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash. Keeping drivers of all ages safe on the road is a priority for CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Injury Center).

Program background:  Through the "Parents Are the Key" communications campaign, CDC’s Injury Center offers parents tools and proven steps to help protect their teens on the road.  As part of the “Parents Are the Key” campaign tool kit—launched nationally in October 2010—CDC’s Injury Center capitalized on the availability of new media to expand the reach of safe driving messages. In addition to a campaign Facebook page, podcasts, e-cards, buttons, badges, and a quiz widget, two videos were created as campaign elements. A four-minute CDC-TV video, “Parents Are the Key to Safe Teen Driving”, emphasizes steps for crash risk reduction and features real (non-actor) parents and their teenage children, as well as experts in the field of teen driver safety. The “I Pledge” video—which will be released in March 2011—offers a more emotional appeal. This 60-second video shows several moms and dads pledging to protect their teen drivers. Both videos are online at http://wwwdev.cdc.gov/ParentsAreTheKey/socialmedia/video.html.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Involving parents in the creation of the CDC-TV piece helped keep it grounded in true-to-life situations. Developed with input from the “cast” of parents and teens—as they were filmed in their homes and driving their vehicles—this video was created to be both instructional and realistic.  As part of the formative evaluation process for “I Pledge”, various video concepts were tested in an online focus group with 27 parents from across the country. Parents’ impressions were very positive of the final concept, and they understood the overall message as “taking responsibility for your child’s safety.”   Injury Center staff use process evaluation to ensure the CDC-TV video is being promoted and disseminated appropriately, effectively, and efficiently; and will do the same for the “I Pledge” video. Metrics include the number of times the videos are watched, comments about them, visits to the campaign website, and the number of partners who include video links on their website or post about it on Facebook or Twitter.  Promotion of the “I Pledge” video will begin in late March 2011, and will include a two-week digital ad buy. The Injury Center will track the number of impressions, shares, and click-throughs of the ad, as well as the video.

Conclusions:  These two videos provide parents of teens with free audio-visual resources that explain the tremendous public health problem of teen driving and provide concrete steps for protecting young drivers in a user-friendly, readily shareable, and viral format. The videos also serve as valuable tools for raising awareness about the broader “Parents Are the Key” campaign.

Implications for research and/or practice:  This case study shows that the use of video as part of a communication campaign can extend the reach of messages to a target audience.