• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 20, 2013

McCann Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die” campaign for the Australian city’s Metro Trains agency continued to rack up the Lions in Cannes Thursday, winning the Radio Grand Prix Lion and two Radio Gold Lions, including awards for best script writing and best use of music and/or sound design.

The campaign has already garnered 23 Cannes Lions, including three Grand Prix awards, 17 Gold Lions, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze. In addition to the Radio Grand Prix Lion, the campaign took top honors in the Direct and PR categories. It also has two more entries in the film category, whose winners have not yet been announced.

The campaign was awarded a Media Gold Lion for best use of branded content and sponsorship. Earlier, it won two Promotion and Activation Gold Lions, a Gold award in the PR category and two Gold Lions each in the Direct and Cyber arenas.

The “Dumb Ways To Die” campaign was designed to reduce train related accidents. The agency also hoped to generate buzz that would effectively boost the impact of the campaign budget by 5%.

The radio ads feature a song about “so many dumb ways to die,” including keeping a rattlesnake as a pet and selling “both your kidneys on the Internet.”  After going through a litany of dumb ways to die, the song lists standing at the edge of a train platform; driving around gates that are down at a railroad crossing and running across tracks between station platforms as “the dumbest ways to die.”

A Web site was created that has nearly 1 million pledges to be safe on trains.

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