Fire & Rescue NSW leaves nothing to chance in 2013 winter campaign via Aardvark & Aardvark
Sydney Indi agency Aardvark & Aardvark takes a new approach in delivering Fire & Rescue NSW’s (FRNSW) 2013 Winter Campaign – its first for the government agency since winning the pitch last November.
McGrath’s agency had been in a David verses Goliath fight beating both Leo Burnett and MediaCom in a creative pitch last year. Since winning the pitch, McGrath has been busy producing a 30 second TVC, four 15 second TVC’s, and a ‘Reverse Competition’ video designed to be shared through social media. The commercials were co-directed by Heath Comeadow and Jamie Cohen from 9mm and feature David Eastgate as the personification of ‘Chance’.
Says Simon McGrath, the agency’s founder and creative director: “I think a few people will be surprised that we even got these scripts through. Government advertising is usually very conservative and very safe. Hats off to the marketing departments of FRNSW and GIO for wanting to push it.”
Currently there are 1200 house fires each winter. A vast majority of these are caused by complacency. Although a majority of people think they are fire safe they continue to leave their safety to chance through behaviours that range from leaving cooking unattended, placing clothes on a heater, overloading electrical power boards, not regularly changing batteries in smoke alarms, and not having a fire escape plan.
The strategy behind this campaign is to challenge safety-conscious individuals who have good intentions with the potential damaging consequences of their own complacency.
The campaign has two major components, the ‘Reverse Competition’ and the ‘Chance’ TVC’s. Rather than using scare tactics the campaign uses humour to stand out and deliver its message.
This idea is based on the fact that unless you have completed the Home Fire Safety Audit you are in the running to win one of the 1200 house fires this winter. NSW residents are urged to un-enter from the competition simply by completing a Home Fire Safety Audit.
“The idea to bring ‘Chance’ to life came from the fact that so many people leave their fire safety to chance. It’s pretty crazy that we do this. It’s not like chance is ever really on our side. So I thought, why don’t we portray ‘Chance’ as a fat, balding, scruffy, untrustworthy character…no offence Dave! Maybe that will help people see things differently”, says McGrath.
“The campaign hopes to reduce the number of house fires this winter by driving people online to complete a Home Fire Safety Audit and urging people to change their fire safety behaviours. Once completed the audit generates a personalised Fire Safety Checklist for users to action.”
Says Aiden Frost, Marketing and Sponsorship Manager at Fire & Rescue NSW: “By completing the audit and following through with the action items generated, users will significantly reduce the risk of fire in their home”.
The campaign runs through to September 2013.
4 Comments
Why couldn’t ‘Chance’ have been a woman? Oh, that’s right, men are fucking stupid.
One too many ‘ad’ roles for that actor. Lazy casting.
FRNSW took a pretty big chance the other day when Botany Fire Station was closed during the huge oil spill.
We at FRNSW are closing as many fire stations as we can, so more house fires are expected. it’s a circle of life thing…..