NEWS

Tennessee to spend millions on new DUI campaign after controversy

Natalie Neysa Alund
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
A portion of the state's former anti-DUI campaign.

After nixing a sexist anti-DUI ad campaign that gained international notoriety, the Tennessee Department of Transportation is paying millions in state funds on another attempt to educate the public about highway safety.

The state last week hired Austin-based Tuerff-Davis Enviromedia Inc., which won the $11.5 million contract to oversee the Governor’s Highway Safety Office media campaign. The state will pay $2.5 million with the remainder of the costs covered by the federal government. Earlier this year, state officials emphasized all of the funding for the controversial anti-DUI campaign came from the federal government.

The new campaign will focus not only on programs aimed at stopping impaired driving but other highway safety issues including motorcycle safety and seat belt use, according to contract documents.

Tennessee's new anti-DUI campaign called sexist

"We'll be starting fresh with the Tennessee campaigns, but we'll be using our years of experience on behavior change to nudge Tennesseans (to) drive safer," Kevin Tuerff, president and co-founder of Tuerff-Davis Enviromedia Inc., said Tuesday.

The new contract comes on the heels of the state apologizing, then cancelling its former anti-DUI campaign run by a Knoxville-based marketing firm after the campaign went viral. In mid-July, the state took down an anti-DUI website after coming under intense criticism for the slogans it used, including those that referred to girls looking "hotter" to guys under the influence and being "chatty” or "clingy." Many, including state lawmakers and Tennessee residents, deemed the campaign sexist.

State apologizes for anti-DUI campaign

Tuerff, who said he grew up in Nashville and was excited at the opportunity to work with the state, said his company is considered a national leader in traffic safety, and currently implementing related public education campaigns in three other states: Texas, Maryland and Virginia.

Tuerff-Davis Enviromedia beat three Nashville-based companies to earn the bid. The details of the other bid packages were not immediately available.

Proposed work for the new contract began Dec. 9 and runs through December 2020.

State officials did not immediately respond to inquiries about the new marketing firm, including exactly where the state money will come from or why it is now being used to help pay for the contract.

Contract related documents list the rate of pay per hour for several employees as high as $175 per hour (for creative director) and as low as $40 per hour (for intern). The public relations employee would make $140 per hour, or if salaried full time, $291,000 annually. By comparison, Tennessee's transportation commissioner makes $158,556 each year.

Jennifer Edson Escalas, associate professor of marketing at Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, said when it comes to advertising contracts, hourly rates are often high to cover overhead.

"That's how the firms make money," Escales said. "They pay the employee and the overhead money (is their profit). It seems high but the numbers aren't too unusually high."

Tuerff would not release his employees' salaries Tuesday, but said the hourly rates listed are similar to local and national competitors and were recently approved by the General Services Administration for a separate 20-year contract the firm has with the federal government.

The catalyst

The state decided to hire a new firm after cancelling its contract with the Tombras Group.

The spiked anti-DUI campaign, which the Governor's Highway Safety Office first rolled out in Nashville bars, featured over $77,000 worth of coasters, table tents and posters bearing slogans such as, “After a few drinks the girls look hotter and the music sounds better. Just remember: If your judgement is impaired, so is your driving,” and, “Buy a drink for a marginally good-looking girl, only to find out she’s chatty, clingy and your boss’s daughter.”

The campaign received quick criticism from residents and state lawmakers, including Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, who called the slip-up "offensive, inexcusable and a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

After an inquiry by The Tennessean, the office sent a statement from Director Kendell Poole that took credit for the scrutinized advertising campaign, saying it was intentionally designed to reach the "young male demographic."

The office also cited a lack of adequate oversight in its approval process of the work from the marketing group that created the campaign.

Poole also said in subsequent statements that all physical materials were being removed from bars and that the campaign had been funded by federal and not state funding.

Poole said the projected budget for the campaign, including television and radio ads, video production and design expenses, was $725,934. By the time the state halted the campaign, $456,923 had been spent, he said.

Poole said the anti-DUI campaign was completely federally funded and was part of a $2 million annual advertising budget. The office typically receives about $12 million in federal grant money each year to address impaired driving, out of about $21 million in federal funding the office receives annually, he said.

Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at 615-259-8072. Contact her on Twitter @nataliealund.

Highway safety contract

Contract total: $11.5 million

Federal money: $9 million

State money: $2.5 million

Service Description and hourly pay:

Account executive: $110

Art Director: $115

Clerical/Intern: $40

Copywriter: $120

Creative Director: $175

Digital Services: $120

Graphic Designer: $99

Media Placement Services: $140

Production Supervisor: $170

Vendors who competed for the new marketing contract:

McNeeley, Piggot, and Fox, based in Nashville

The Buntin Group, based in Nashville

DVL Seigenthaler, based in Nashville