A brilliant new driving safety campaign out of New Zealand badges injuries to stress the importance of wearing seatbelts. Every year, ninety Kiwis die because they weren’t wearing theirs during a crash, but a new campaign from Clemenger BBDO sets out to address that for their client, the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Because younger men are less likely to use one, the agency partnered with VICE to find younger New Zealanders whose lives were saved because they were wearing their seat belt during a crash. Hundreds of survivors responded and ultimately, the agency chose ten for their campaign.

To visually brand the idea, the agency brought in the FX makeup team PROFX to recreate each victim’s crash injuries. Using post-crash photographs, they recreated the physical imprint of the belts on the survivors for a powerful print and outdoor campaign. The final portraits feature survivors wearing their seatbelt imprints with palpable appreciation.

The survivor pictured above is Liam, whose car was T-boned by a truck. On the Belted Survivors website, we learn he woke up from a coma just in time to witness the birth of his daughter. Story details like this add a powerfully human and visceral urgency to the work’s imagery.

The NZ Transport’s message aims to change the perception that buckling your seatbelt is only for kids or old people. With powerful visuals like these, they should be very successful at achieving their goal. This is powerful work, beautifully and memorably done.