The aim of this commercial was to emotionally engage householders in England to test their smoke alarms on clock change day.

A boy looks around a burnt out house. In a child’s charred bedroom he turns to camera and asks all parents to make a promise: to test their smoke alarms on clock change day. As he speaks, he pauses for parents to repeat the promise back to him, right there and then.

When he’s finished, he looks sadly at a melted clock before walking away from camera. It’s only then we realise the horrific truth.

Displayed on 3 x digital outdoor 6 sheets at a main London train stations in the run up to clock change day

The promotion was a big success, both in terms of generating awareness and crucially in terms of generating response. Advertising recall overall rose post campaign which meant that almost one in every two adults in the UK were touched by Fire Safety advertising, a significant reach for a relatively new concept and an on air campaign which lasted only two weeks. Most importantly the campaign prompted an immediate behavioral response.

The campaign made people three times more likely to test their smoke alarms, and 16 million people in the UK responded directly by testing their smoke alarm on clock change day. A high conversion rate, especially for a low interest category and a behavior change task.