The overall objective of the Teen Smart Driver site was to attract and keep the attention of the three primary audiences -- teens, their parents, and Virginia businesses. The launch objective of the Teen Smart Driver site was to fulfill a resource need of the Virginia Driver Education Teachers Society known as VADETS. VADETS has very few educational resources on hand outside of textbooks, the traditional driver's education films, and student driver vehicles.
To start the ball rolling for this campaign and give it a public resource to center itself around, Filnet began the discovery process for the campaign. Prior to Filnet's involvement, the campaign had gathered data from across the state of Virginia to write a report describing the problems with teen driving and provide recommendations. Filnet's first job was to promote the campaign to the public.
The Web site that Filnet developed became the primary building block to which all of the other media would point back (See the diagram below).
As the focal point of the entire campaign, the TeenSmartDriver Web site was designed to be dynamic and to provide real time information. As news of Virginia teen driving fatalities became available the Deathometer was updated and news items were posted. As the campaign evolved, the Web site changed by offering the latest messages, resources, and information instantly using Filnet's customized back office content management system. Tactically, the site's look and feel was designed to be appealing to all three major audiences. However, from a content and interactive perspective, each audience's subsection was written and rendered to appeal to each individual audience's tastes. For example, the teen audience required more interactive areas such as bulletin boards and the Deathometer, while the parent section has safety tips and the business section had ways they could have an impact on teen safe driving behavior and the benefits to them.
Filnet designed and implemented an information architecture to the initial site which contained a survey to gather information about teen attitudes toward driving and driver safety. Survey results were used to create site updates and fuel the focus for a separate traditional media campaign called Dying2Drive, which includes PSA's running on local cable and radio channels in VA. Other content areas of the site included resources for all three audiences, Virginia state laws, personal stories, a page set aside for educators, and an opportunity for visitors to personally "get involved" with the campaign.
On the backend, Filnet applied a range of technologies and applications to power the site. These technologies included PHP, Perl, Tango (Filnet's proprietary content management tool), custom site search, custom surveys, reporting export, newsroom, article archives, and online bulletin boards. While Filnet designed, hosted and managed the site, one of the objectives in the long-term was to enable the Teen Smart Driver administrators to manage the content of the site on their own. To achieve this the above mentioned content management tool, Tango, was implemented in the site. Tango allows even non-technical staff to update content while still maintaining the design standards that are key to the site's identity. By using Tango, new content can be updated by the site's staff as soon as it becomes available. This makes site administration quick, easy, and above all efficient.
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After its launch in February 2003, the Teen Smart Driver Web site received an average 2000 unique visitors per day (February to May 2003). The peak time for teen visits was in March and April shortly after the launch which is evidence that the VADETS teachers were driving their students to the site to enrich their classroom programs. Moreover, 171 teens and 79 parents took the survey which made the data they provided statistically valid and useful to the other elements of the larger campaign. While only 15 businesses took the survey, their input provided valuable data to use later in the campaign when businesses will become a more highly sought after element.
Entering the 2004-2005 academic year the Teen Smart Driver site has achieved many process oriented results. It serves as a destination where teens, parents, and businesses can obtain information on Virginia teenage driving laws and serves as a place where the harsh realities of the deadly affects that accidents have in this vulnerable population. Finally, it serves as a focal point of community involvement where teens, parents and businesses can learn ways to help improve teen driving safety and an online outlet for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one.
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