Creating campaigns that change behavior is rooted in research and strategy.
Stratacomm is changing the conversation on distracted driving for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). With more than 300,000 crashes in five years—and 18- to 34-year-old drivers still reaching for their phones—research revealed that the U Drive. U Text. U Pay. tagline had run its course. Focus groups found the “U” shorthand dated; the visual identity no longer reflected how people actually use their phones behind the wheel today: video calls, social scrolling and app checking at speed. A reset was overdue.
Stratacomm conducted two iterative rounds of concept testing—testing initial concepts, applying feedback, refining the strongest directions and retesting—to validate a new campaign identity. The result: Put the Phone Away or Pay (Celular Guardado O Serás Multado). The modernized tagline broadened the message from “texting” to “phone” while keeping enforcement consequences front and center. The team then concepted, tested and produced two new 2026 TV ads. Face It (general market) shows a daughter video-calling her mother, pleading with her to put the phone down, just moments before a crash. It is intimate, devastating and direct. With equal impact, POV (Spanish) follows a man through his day as phone distractions cost him moments with his family, leading to a ticket, then a crash.
The new tagline ranked #1 for ability to influence behavior and outperformed the original campaign across both markets. By pairing research-driven creative with high-visibility enforcement, Stratacomm transformed a familiar reminder into a challenge every driver must answer: Is it worth it?
Stratacomm’s use of these materials produced for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is for the purpose of providing examples of its work and does not constitute an endorsement by NHTSA.
