A campaign made to answer burning questions.
Challenge.
Most properties in British Columbia are surrounded by plants that burn much easier than people think. Three common garden favourites include: cedar hedges, juniper hedges, and reed grass. Unfortunately, the popularity of these plants means that many properties can easily spread of wildfire into neighbourhoods, due to the fact that these trees and grasses catch fire much faster than FireSmart plants. Enter the FireSmart Plant Program. A way for people to find more resilient plants with the FireSmart Plant Tag right at their local participating garden centre. Since its launch in 2022, more garden centres have joined the program, so we needed a campaign that did three things: (1) educate people on non-FireSmart plants, and their alternatives, (2) tell people local garden centres carry them, and (3) package it all up in a creative message that’s entertaining.
Solution.
We created a game-show-style ad campaign with a pyro-maniac host, all about burning these plants. But, of course, we had to put safety first as well as a helpful message. So we sure to not just burn flammable plants (which is fun) but also showcase their FireSmart alternatives. So for each burning episode, we featured a single non-FireSmart plant getting lit on fire, then had our FireSmart representative steal the show from our pyro-host with grand fire-extinguishing entrances. Then she provided FireSmart alternatives through fun, animated segues. This resulted in a series of entertaining, visually interesting ads that got multiple messages across about dangerous plants, their FireSmart alternatives, and how and where to find them. A real win-win-win.
Coordinated Effort.
We facilitated a controlled burn environment under professional supervision, even bringing local firefighters on board for a fire extinguishing cameo.
Solutions in Motion.
Many of our desired FireSmart plants were out of season, so our production team brought their animation skills to the table with stylized motion-graphic solutions.
Metrics.
- 2.6M impressions. - 36k new site visitors from paid ads. - 98.8% web engagement rate.
