We create brand experiences

National Rural Fire Campaign

The National Rural Fire Authority (NRFA) work tirelessly putting out wildfires around New Zealand. They also put a huge amount of effort into fire education via their annual prevention campaign, which has been hitting our roadsides and TV screens every summer since the ’90s.

We were approached by the NRFA to look at their activity with fresh eyes. While the previous campaigns were liked, research indicated they weren’t effective in getting kiwis to take actions that would lead to fire prevention. Our task was to develop a new creative strategy and campaign to address this problem.

Creating a connection

Farmers and travellers - the target audiences couldn't be more different. To create a cohesive campaign we sought to find a commonality between these diverse groups of people, eventually arriving at the environment as our solution.

For travellers, both kiwis and tourists, our spectacular landscapes are the very reason we escape the rat race or foreigners travel around the world to our shores. While for farmers, these same landscapes are the source of their livelihoods.

Previous campaigns had been very instructional, coming from a cartoon-like figure delivering catch phrases such as C'mon NZ, Keep It Green. This 'do as I say' approach didn't provide any emotional connection back to the viewer, meaning they were left saying 'so what'?

If we could get farmers and travellers to think about what it would be like if these landscapes were lost, to get them to personalise fire, then we could create an emotive connection which would drive action.

But how? We found people that had experienced a rural fire and asked them to tell their story. Creating impact and relevancy with farmers and travellers by hearing about the effects of fire from someone just like them. Told through video, stills and copy.

Check It's Alright Before You Light

The campaign rolled out nationally in print, outdoor, radio, digital and on Air New Zealand's in-flight screens during the summer of 2016/2017. In all executions, our storytellers led the creative, telling shorter or longer versions of their stories depending on the medium. From long format video content and 30" pre-roll ads to 30" radio spots and written static formats. Ultimately asking users to check if it's alright before they light a fire.

Central to the campaign was the digital hub we developed. Acting as the call to action, users were able to watch the full stories. But more importantly, they were literally able to check if it was alright before they lit a fire. The results then linked them to their local Fire Authority to apply for a permit or to seek further information and advice.

1 out of every 3 visitors to the site checked their local fire danger. A tangible indication that the campaign strategy connected deeply with our target audiences, motivating them to take proactive steps to minimise the risk of lighting a wildfire. Which was strongly endorsed by the Jan-March 2017 TNS Fire Knowledge Communications tracking research. In this quarterly report, the Check It's Alright campaign had significantly higher impact than previous activity and crucially was shown to be influencing long term behavioural change.

View the website and all video stories at checkitsalright.nz