Why is this work relevant for Media?

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Australian homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. To help solve this problem, Suncorp partnered with the CSIRO, James Cook University and Room 11 Architects to create ‘‘One House To Save Many’. The world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods and bushfires. One House was launched with a fully integrated campaign, consisting of TV, radio, OOH, print, social, an online hub, and a primetime documentary. It also received significant news coverage on all major networks.

Background

Every year, during Australia’s ‘Storm Season’ (November to April), hundreds of thousands of homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. And thanks to climate change, it’s only getting worse. In fact, entire communities in North Queensland are no longer insurable. So Suncorp, one of Australia's largest insurers, briefed us to create a campaign that would help make Australian’s more prepared for future storms. Create awareness about Suncorp products. And demonstrate Suncorp’s commitment to Australia’s resilience. It was to be a fully integrated campaign, including brand and product TV, OOH, print, socia, radio and digital utility. And the primary audience was the State of Queensland, with an ideal PR reach including the rest of Australia.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Australian homes are destroyed or damaged by extreme weather. And each year nothing changes. We just pick up the pieces, rebuild the same way, and hope it won’t happen again. And with the ever-increasing effects of climate change, the problem is only getting worse. To help solve this enormous problem, Suncorp partnered with the CSIRO (science organisation), James Cook University and Room 11 Architects to create ‘One House To Save Many’. The world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods and bushfires. One House is the blueprint for the future of Australian housing. Enabling Australians to live in harmony with nature, and not in fear of it. The project launched with a national ad campaign and prime time documentary. The learnings from One House were then made available to the public and presented to government institutions and national building companies.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Despite the continued devastation of cyclones, floods and bushfires, nothing really changes. We just pick up the pieces, rebuild the same way, and hope it won’t happen again. In fact, 97% of disaster funding is spent on the repair and rebuild, and only 3% is spent on the prevention. The reality is, building codes in Australia just aren’t adequate for the ever-increasing effects of climate change. So, we realised that the only way to change this cycle of destruction, is to change the way we build our homes. So, instead of a traditional ‘storm preparation’ campaign, we proposed to Suncorp that we design and build a resilient house that could become the blueprint of future Australian homes. One that would be affordable, could be insured, and would stand strong through future Australian conditions. The primary audience was mid to high-income homeowners in storm-ravaged Queensland.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

One House had 3 key phases: EXCITE: Bringing attention to the issue of building standards. Led by film and PR, One House encouraged Australians to talk about the issue of home resilience. We also produced a documentary that aired on prime-time national TV in which we talked to Australian families that had endured their own tragedies due to natural disasters, and documented the creation of One House itself. ENGAGE: Create awareness of the One House learnings. Through paid (TV, digital display, OOH), Australians were encouraged to visit our interactive One House hub. There, they were able to access open-source designs for One House, enabling them to apply One House innovations to their own homes. EQUIP: Providing products and services to enable readiness and protection. Lastly, we created TV, OLV, radio, and OOH informing Australians of Suncorp’s products and services specifically designed to help them build resilience to natural disasters.

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign reached 99% of the target audience (through paid and earned), and was widely covered across every major Australian news network (20M+ impressions). Including prominent features on current affairs programs and morning shows. The documentary also aired multiple times on a major broadcast network (channel 9). In the first few weeks, Suncorp received inquiries from 13 leading industry and research stakeholders, 4 of Queensland’s largest city councils, and 2 national building companies interested in partnering with Suncorp to scale One House across the country. Led by Suncorp, the Insurance Council of Australia has now launched Project Resilience – that aims to embed resilience into the National Construction Code by 2025. And several weeks after launch, the Federal Government announced a $600 million resilience fund for new disaster preparation and mitigation programs. In addition, we’ve seen 110,000+ unique visitors to the website, with a 3.7 minute average dwell time.

Please tell us how disruption in your market place inspired the work

‘One House’ was the result of a huge disruption to the insurance industry. The ever-increasing effects of climate change has made insuring homes much harder, with some homes remaining un-insurable. This meant that we needed to shift the core focus of the business from ‘recovery’ to ‘resilience’. And we are seeing many competitors follow suit.