New campaign tackles drunk driving with TV spots and podcast

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There’s a new DWI campaign that’s delivering the same message in new ways.

“Working in advertising, you know, we could be spending our time trying to sell people things that they don’t need,” said Nick Tauro, a RK Venture broadcast creative director. 

Tauro and his team at RK Venture have worked with the New Mexico Department of Transportation for over a decade on different PSA campaigns. 

 “This summer, we took a creative direction, which features an auto junkyard theme,” said Tauro. 

In a new TV spot, a man in a junkyard walks you through why each car is there.

“It’s very gratifying to work on these traffic safety campaigns for well, for me personally. But I know, the rest of our team here, shares that. We all live here in Albuquerque, and we’re in Santa Fe, we live here in New Mexico, we drive the same roads as everybody else,” Tauro said. 

And this year they expanded.

Rachel Kennedy is the host of Live and Let Drive, it’s a podcast that expands beyond the traditional TV commercial. 

“It’s a really good medium for driving safety, because a lot of people actually listen to podcasts in their car while they’re driving. And people have a lot of opinions about driving behavior,” said Rachel Kennedy. 

So far there are eight episodes with interviews from experts and real people whose lives have been impacted. 

Like Bob Dilley, the APD Aviation officer who was hit by a drunk driver in 2014, and pronounced dead three times. 

“I always either learn something new from the experts, or I gain a new perspective from one of the guests who, you know, has this firsthand experience that makes you think about it differently,” Kennedy said. 

Both Tauro and Kennedy say they love to see their work make a difference.

“We’re actually spending our time making our community better. So for us, that’s really satisfying,” said Tauro.