Less than half of New Zealand’s smoke alarms work. 60% have either flat batteries or none at all.
The New Zealand Fire Service needed to do something about that. So FCB New Zealand created a potato-chip munching flatmate in the ceiling, representing the smoke alarm that (eventually) wakes and alerts the bloke, lying asleep on the couch, to the fact that his home is on fire.
The campaign is called, Your Only Voice, because alarms are sleepers’ only warning of danger at night. This is stated in the end title, “Working smoke alarms are your only voice.”
The second ad in the campaign features a dad trying to wake his daughter.
The aim of the creative was not to create blame or induce fear but to remind people of the benefit of checking that smoke alarms are working.
Blair McLaren, national communications manager, New Zealand Fire Service commented, “Most people accept that smoke alarms save lives, but frequently they don’t take that next step of buying, installing and regularly checking alarms. Our campaign aims to bridge that gap between awareness and action.”
FCB NZ executive creative director, Tony Clewett, explained, “80 per cent of New Zealand homes have smoke alarms installed, but more than half of those don’t actually work. A tragedy in the making. Our brief was simple: get Kiwis off their butts and up the ladder, making sure their smoke alarms are functioning properly.”
The campaign includes two TVCs and banner advertisements. There is also a Facebook component, skewed towards key audience – those, who are identified as likely to believe that a fire ‘won’t happen to them’ – notably renters, at-risk families, the elderly and people living alone.
The TVCs are running on TVNZ, MW, Prime and SKY until late January 2016.
Creative credits:
Agency: FCB New Zealand
Regional executive creative director: James Mok
Executive creative director: Tony Clewett
Senior creative leads: Kelly Lovelock & Hywel James
Production company: Finch
Director: Nic Finlayson
Producers: Anna Stuart & Jimena Murray
Post production: Blockhead
Sound: Nylon Studios
