City of Santa Monica

The client

Santa Monica is a coastal city west of downtown Los Angeles, 5 miles from UCLA’s Westwood campus and home to 90,000 residents. Santa Monica Beach is fringed by Palisades Park with views overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Historic Santa Monica Pier is home to the Pacific Park amusement park, famed Hippodrome Carousel and Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Known for its stunning collection of art galleries, remarkable restaurants and casual California lifestyle, Santa Monica is a vacation destination for well over 4 million domestic and international tourists a year.

The challenge

After studying the successful video campaign BHI did to promote the City’s bustling 3rd Street Promenade, they tapped us to create a pedestrian safety campaign to remind motorists and pedestrians about the distractions that come with visiting such a high interest, high traffic, highly compacted area.

The solution

To make the point without becoming too serious, BHI used edgy humor to meet the challenge — to set up a potential calamity and defuse it before it became real.

We created a 30-second TV spot that aired locally. The spot was underscored by flamboyant bullfight music and crowd cheers to set the scene. A preening matador was featured in a sequined “suit of lights,” as a stand-in for pedestrians who might have to contend with honking vehicles instead of menacing bulls.

Voiceover: “You know, it really shouldn’t be this hard to cross the street. A reminder to everyone. Let’s watch out for each other.” A message from The City of Santa Monica.

Point made. Point taken.