HORIZON POWER

An electrifying idea

Background &
tasks

Horizon Power generates, distributes and retails electricity to more than 100,000 residents and 10,000 businesses in regional Western Australia.

Each year, the provider runs a comprehensive public safety messaging program to help mitigate serious accidents during storm and cyclone seasons – notably around fallen powerlines, which, due to the harsh weather conditions in regional WA, are a regular occurrence and pose significant risk of injury or death.

This award-winning campaign was developed to demonstrate the danger that fallen powerlines represent and, importantly, to educate people living in cyclone prone areas about what to do if they encounter one.

Strategic &
creative approach

Previous Horizon Power safety campaigns had focused on instructing people to “stay well clear” and call Horizon Power. However, they had not explained the risk, nor been specific about a safe distance, which we believed were critical messages that would both arrest attention and make for a more impactful communication piece.

By making it clear to people that fallen powerlines can be deadly, we gave them motivation to retain our message. Showing the 10m radius in a real-world environment was important. It gave people a specific action to take, and the best chance of judging the distance accurately. By incorporating the “Stay 10M Away” into the climax of the experiment, it embeds the information into the viewer’s mind.

Our
objectives

The strategic intent of the campaign was to:

  • Increase awareness around the dangers of fallen powerlines during storm season and clearly communicate the required action to be taken on the part of people encountering fallen power lines;
  • Reduce the instances of accidents and/or electrocution fatalities caused by fallen powerlines; and
  • Reinforce the notion that Horizon Power is committed to keeping its customers safe.

Identifying & overcoming potential challenges & risks

This concept was very technical in nature, requiring close collaboration with electrical safety professionals to execute the creative idea and a flexible approach to meet specific needs for safety and authenticity. We secured a location with the right infrastructure for the shoot and consulted various engineers to determine exact detail for the ‘live power’ demonstration.

Considerations included the weight of the tree branch to bring down the power line, the pulley system required to suspend the branch and the requirement for additional lighting because of a night shoot.

 

Our intent was to develop a campaign that would demonstrate
the seriousness of the subject matter while allowing for inclusion of simple instructions designed to keep people safe.

The Results

The campaign has been extremely well received by the client and the creative industry, with the TVC recognised as television commercial of the year at the 2019 Campaign Brief WA Awards. The campaign has also been highly acclaimed by other energy providers around Australia – including
Western Power locally.

We have included some top line campaign performance results as follows, although more in-depth research is required to determine the effect of the campaign regarding attitudes and behaviour over time:

1350

TARPS across regional

WA for TV

49%

Average CPM for

Facebook

CTR 0.13%

(well above industry

standard for online)

626,032

Media

impressions

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