KiwiRail.

Steely Stan: Encouraging Safe Rail Crossing Behaviour.

In New Zealand, complacency around railway tracks was becoming a serious issue, with near misses steadily on the rise. KiwiRail needed a fresh approach to drive real behavior change—something that would help people see trains, not just look. That’s where Steely Stan came in.

Steely Stan is a larger-than-life, horse-riding figure who appears at rail crossings, urging commuters to take a “steely stare” to both the right and left before crossing. The concept behind Stan is simple: we’re more likely to do the right thing when we think someone is watching. Steely Stan became that watchful presence.

To support this, we designed an engaging out-of-home (OOH) campaign that actively encouraged the desired behavior. Using clever design and strategic placement, we ensured that people would have to physically move their eyes in both directions—just like they should at a rail crossing.

We brought the campaign to life with bold, comic-book-style illustrations, injecting a Wild West vibe into an otherwise serious topic. The colorful and dynamic visuals stood out against the more traditional, often bland, government safety messages.

The results.

A significant impact: a 100% decrease in vehicle collisions at level crossings. By transforming a critical safety message into an engaging, memorable campaign, Steely Stan made rail safety a priority for commuters, proving that a creative approach can lead to real, lasting behavior change.

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