Video first for Welsh smoke alarm testing campaign

With a switch in emphasis from promoting free ‘home safety checks’ to ‘safe and well checks’ and the importance of regular smoke alarm testing, the three fire and rescue services in Wales have been working on a collaborative campaign during 2017 aimed at capturing the imagination of residents.

We’re all aware that people tend to think they’ll never be involved in a fire but that in fact a fire can strike anytime, anywhere when you least expect it.

This was an opportunity to get in on the act with the recent explosion in popularity of using video content to boost our important message.

The first strand of the campaign kicked off in January with a new ‘When do you do it?’ video, led by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, which was promoted across Wales on fire and rescue service websites and social media – this was a tongue in cheek reminder highlighting the importance not just in owning a smoke alarm but also in testing it.

This was followed by the ‘Reasons to Test’ strand of the campaign in May. Led by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, this took another fun and light-hearted approach to regular smoke alarm testing, aimed at engaging with young and old audiences alike.

An innovative short animation was produced by teaming up with students from Wrexham’s Glyndwr University, whose cartoon scenes and characters took another look at the same message, brought to life by an original soundtrack, with music composed by established local singer-songwriter Daniel Lloyd.

The challenge of this strand of the campaign was to produce something completely original to build on promoting the same message, whilst also championing local talent and forging new local relationships. The work provided an excellent platform to showcase the skills of the visual effects students, helping to further their future careers, and staging a premier showing of the new animation to local primary school children helped to gain some excellent local publicity.

The animation was promoted via social media and websites across Wales and also, as a third strand of the campaign, was taken to summer events and county shows to sit alongside a quiz and competition to further promote the smoke alarm testing message. Life sized cut outs and selfie frames featuring the animated characters, together with similarly branded give-aways, helped to capture the attention of visitors to the events.

The campaign will be evaluated fully in the autumn but viewings of the videos, hits to our websites, social media statistics as well as engagement figures at events to date all providing positive indications that the campaign has hit home within our communities. Both videos were also accompanied by a national radio campaign, with strong listener figures further extending our reach – representing the first time we had done this across Wales.

Some early learning points included overcoming technical challenges associated with ensuring videos are embedded within Facebook and Twitter posts as opposed to using a link, including subtitles to videos so that social media posts can still be understood when people don’t click through to them, and how best to use a website landing page to drive people to your campaign.

But there is no doubt that the appeal of videos in marketing is here to stay for the time being and that they don’t have to be perfect to be able to get the desired effect!

- Tracey Williams is Corporate Communication Manager at North Wales Fire & Rescue