To get Kiwis to understand the devastating effects of a fire, we put the lost memories, the scorch heirlooms and charred photographs in the readers’ hands. Literally.

On a single day, we worked with newspapers nationwide to create the world’s first ashen run. The beloved remains of burnt homes were mixed in with the black ink from their regional paper. So when readers picked up their morning paper, they were literally holding the remains of a local home devastated by fire. A tactile reminder of the horrific and all-too-common nature of house fires.

The campaign ran on a single day, across 9 different leading publications through New Zealand.

It prompted a 490% increase in smoke alarm sales year on year, the biggest uplift ever recorded in New Zealand.

The spectacular results were achieved without any other communications in market at the time.