Why is this work relevant for Media?

Escape the Paper used the medium of the newspaper in a compelling way, sending readers on a journey to four different placements throughout the paper. Each ad prompts readers to turn to another page to continue following the harrowing story. This mimics the action in the ads as the copy describes someone running from room to room in a burning house trying to get the whole family out.

Background

Only 62% of New Zealand households have escape plans. Those that don’t think that in the event of a fire, they will be able to escape easily. For example, simply walk out the door. But the reality of fire is very different. Smoke incapacitates you, reducing your ability to see, breathe and think clearly. And assuming you’re lucky enough to be conscious, you have next to no time to escape. It can take less than 3 minutes from the time a flame starts in a room before it becomes unsurvivable. With this print campaign, we need to educate New Zealanders, giving them an emotional and memorable reason to make an escape plan and drive them to escapemyhouse.co.nz. Since Escape Week launched 4 years ago, the challenge has been to drive engagement. The low hanging fruit have already made escape plans, so each year it gets harder.

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

People think three minutes is plenty of time to get out if there’s a house fire. We needed to show them it’s not that simple because of the toxic smoke, panic, low visibility and encroaching flames. So instead of one full page press ad, we scattered 4 ads throughout the paper to create an immersive experience mirroring the panic and disorientation of someone running from room to room trying to escape a fire, leading to the tragic conclusion. The first full-page placement draws readers into the story, then prompts them to turn to the next placement to continue following it. The art direction breaks up the type to mimic the increasingly chaotic movements of the character in the story and directs the reader’s eye with a curl of smoke.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

1 in 4 New Zealanders will experience a house fire in our lifetime. Our comms strategy was to disrupt readers with an immersive story that challenged their assumption that it’s easy to escape a house fire. But making an Escape Plan is another thing to add to the to-do list amongst $195m of other government comms telling us to moderate drinking, drive carefully, etc. And that was before a pandemic, 24-hour media coverage and an additional $53m in paid comms telling you to stay inside, wear masks and contact trace. In 2020, escape plans were pushed further down the priority list than ever before. Our Comms Challenge: cut through unprecedented levels of government noise to make escape planning a priority in 2021.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Escape the Paper ran on February 11th 2021 over 4 different pages in the NZ Herald. Print has gone from strength to strength post COVID, with New Zealanders seeking credible news sources. The average daily reach of the New Zealand Herald (NZ’s largest newspaper) is 612,000 - the highest in 17 years.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Escape the Paper execution delivered 8% of all traffic to escapemyhouse.co.nz during Escape Week and 8% of all completed escape plans.