Case study

How we turned one dataset into nationwide coverage across Germany

Services

Digital PR

HRP

268

Pieces of coverage earned across Germany

Average DR of all coverage

62.5%

Increase in referring domains

Overview

After great success in the previous year, we decided to update and re-outreach our annual study identifying Germany’s most dangerous roads. We asked our PhD-qualified data scientists to look into the number of accidents with injuries and fatalities as recorded in the Unfallatlas, an official government statistic. This study revealed not only the most dangerous roads nationally but also for states and larger cities, raising awareness and helping drivers identify locations where more caution would help prevent accidents in future.

The brief

We partnered with well-known German insurance brand, Allianz Direct, with the aim of raising the profile of their car insurance services in particular and of positioning them clearly as a trusted go-to authority for help and information around driving-related issues. With a clear focus on increasing their digital authority, the company aimed to improve their backlink profile and drive more organic traffic.

In order to achieve these goals for the client, we undertook thorough market research, evaluating trending topics among the publications targeting their audience, as well as outlets establishing them as thought leaders in the motor industry. The campaign about the most dangerous roads tapped into several trends and concerns that drivers face in Germany. With national, regional and local relevance achieved through custom rankings from an extensive datasheet, we were able to tailor this campaign very specifically and effectively to many publications’ target audience. This campaign not only leveraged shocking statistics, however. Raising awareness about accident hotspots is helpful to drivers, showing them where they need to be more careful, and ultimately assisting the prevention of damage to people and their vehicles.

Allianz Direct accident statistics study page

Our strategy

To maximise the campaign’s reach and relevance across Germany, we developed an outreach strategy spanning national and motor publications, as well as regional and local news outlets.

The data source for this piece was government statistics from the German accident atlas, and the methodology for determining accident-prone roads was clear and straightforward. Concerns, such as road length distorting the data, were carefully evaluated and balanced.

Every state, as well as selected districts and cities, received a fully customised press release, ranking the 10 roads with the highest number of accidents with injuries within their area. Exclusive rankings were also distributed on request to a number of journalists in both renditions of this campaign, which achieved even more quality coverage.

t-online coverage of the most dangerous roads study

Key campaign

Germany’s most dangerous roads

Average
DR

268

brand
mentions

stern.de coverage of Germany's most dangerous roads

“The main feature that made this campaign so relevant to so many people and so many outlets was how customisable the dataset was for different outlets. Regional and local relevance is always an added layer of interest to the subject matter, but with this dataset, we could produce the most accident-prone roads for whole states, smaller districts, cities and towns. By being able to create such rankings and evaluate their data in a completely customised press release for each locality, this campaign was able to appeal with specific content to a wide-ranging readership.

Local roads concern everybody - no matter how or why we participate in traffic, we are all part of it. We know there are risks and we want to minimise them. Hence, this campaign had almost infinite angles that were hyperrelevant to everybody within a region, as well as delivering important and valuable news on where to be careful and how to reduce your own risk of having an accident.”