Public Awareness Initiative for the Illinois Tollway

“If Only” Speed Safety Campaign

Overview:

After the Illinois Tollway expressed the need to try to reduce excessive speeding on the Tollway system, Morreale was brought on board to work with the agency’s Traffic Engineer on a new public awareness speed safety campaign.

The “If Only” campaign launched in spring 2025 and features authentic and compelling perspectives of people who have been deeply impacted by speed-related crashes, as well as paid advertising, promotion of safe driving tips and outreach to stakeholders who can help amplify the campaign’s messages.

Strategy:

Our work began by collaborating with the Illinois Tollway to identify the target audience of customers who were most likely to speed excessively. Based on available data, it was determined that males, aged 18-44 were most likely to speed. Armed with this information, the project team worked to develop a campaign strategy that focused specifically on that demographic.

The “If Only” campaign theme was informed by research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which suggests that social responsibility is the strongest motivator to change behavior such as reducing speed.​

The campaign is intended to evoke a sense of urgency, impact, reflection and responsibility. It seeks to inspire drivers to reconsider their behaviors behind the wheel by focusing on the lifelong effects of excessive speeding – not only for themselves, but for those sharing the road with them.

“If Only” features 15-second, 30-second and 60-second videos of a trauma surgeon, crash survivor and first responder, each of whom provided real-life testimonials about the impact excessive speeding has had on their lives.

To test campaign messages and images to be featured as part of the campaign, Morreale conducted two focus groups with males aged 18-22 to learn if our messages and creative elements were likely to impact this younger audience. Insights gained from these focus groups were incorporated into the next phase of campaign planning.

One outcome of this research was the inclusion of a paid sponsorship of a local podcast focused on Chicago’s two baseball teams. This sponsorship features campaign messaging and testimonial support from a widely known and respected influencer whose podcasts are widely viewed and listened to by 18-22 year-old baseball fans throughout the Chicagoland market.

Morreale developed a comprehensive three-month media buying plan comprised of paid media placements on Spotify, Facebook and YouTube. In addition to targeting the ad buys with demographic data, we further targeted these placements by delivering ads to the highest concentration of speeders in zip codes along the Illinois Tollway system, as well as select key words to ensure even greater likelihood that the campaign would reach those most likely to speed on the Tollway.

For stakeholder outreach, Morreale developed a list of more than 500 transportation, public health, law enforcement and education organizations, and a list of local, county and state officials who received an email urging them to join the “If Only” campaign. The request included sharing a campaign stakeholder toolkit comprised of template newsletter articles, social media posts and other materials these organizations could share with their members and constituents to further amplify the campaign through third-party communications. The campaign toolkit is housed on an Illinois Tollway web page designed by Morreale Communications and provides visitors the opportunity to receive campaign updates via email.

Results:

Current paid media metrics show the “If Only” campaign is exceeding industry benchmarks, delivering more than one million impressions within the first four weeks. Spotify ads are generating nearly 93 percent engagement, overperforming the industry standard by 2 percent, and YouTube has 86.5 percent engagement with 370,826 completed video views in four weeks. Facebook is also performing above industry standards with .51 percent engagement versus the .44 percent typical national benchmark.

In addition, in the first month of the campaign, dozens of stakeholders including NHTSA, Pace Suburban Bus, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and dozens of local officials shared elements of the campaign toolkit on social media.