Why is this work relevant for PR?

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. The campaign reached 99% of the target audience, and was widely covered across every major Australian news network. Including prominent features on current affairs programs and morning shows. Even the acting Prime Minister attended as we put the design through the cyclone testing facility.

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 an original idea that would form the basis of 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 (20% 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 PR strategy (30% of vote)

The insight was that building codes in Australia just aren’t adequate for the ever-increasing effects of climate change. And 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 key PR message was about repositioning Suncorp as a leader in resilience, not just insurance. ‘One House’ established Suncorp’s credibility in this space. The primary audience was mid to high-income homeowners in storm-ravaged Queensland. With an expanded PR audience that aimed to reach all Australians, including government bodies and building companies. The documentary provided ample assets that could be distributed across different news outlets.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The PR outreach was multi-tiered and coincided with the launch of the campaign assets. We targeted major Australian morning shows, mainstream news outlets, and also current affairs programs that often covered stories about storms and climate change. Every major primetime news station across Australia picked up the story, including ‘Sunrise’, ‘A Current Affair’, Ten, Nine, Seven, ABC, ‘Sky News’, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ and many more. Due to the relevance of the story, ‘A Current Affair’ ran a new version of the story several months after airing it for the first time, in response to another storm hitting Australia. The Documentary aired on Channel Nine multiple times. But we also ensured that there was additional content and a host of experts to provide exclusives to each news outlet. We also targeted specific industry publications. Including; Insurance, Houzz, Real Estate Australia, Architecture and the building industry.

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.