Allen Forbes

Even though there are usually giant signs saying, “SCHOOL ZONE PLEASE SLOW DOWN” drivers still don't quite get it. Maybe these signs are too subtle. We were pretty sure no one wanted to hit any kids. So we put a kid in the middle of the road to see what would happen. Not a real one. A 3-D decal of a little girl chasing her ball into the street. What happened was a lot of people started noticing those signs, then a whole lot of people started noticing our campaign. $10.8 million in earned media. 68 pieces of national and international press, including CNN, BBC World News, Sky News and CNN. 1.8 million views on YouTube.

I have to admit, I had my reservations about Pavement Patty once people started to talk about her. The conversation was definitely not all positive. A lot of people questioned how tasteful it was to put a little girl in the middle of the road. But that was the point. The negative reactions, thankfully, only increased the campaign’s virality. Our intention was not for the message to go global, but once the conversation started we went with it. Someone once said, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. To date, it’s my most awarded piece of work and landed me a place in the coveted pages of the Communication Arts Advertising Annual 2010. So I would have to agree.

Pavement Patty was revived once again in 2017.

Associate Creative Direction/Copywriting: Allen Forbes, Art Direction: David Harrison, Account Guy: Neil Malik, Creative Direction: Liam Greenlaw