The effects of climate change continue to make Queensland more susceptible to extreme weather, causing the cost of insurance to skyrocket. In some cases, entire towns are uninsurable. So, over the last few years, Suncorp Insurance has shifted its strategy from ‘recovery’ to ‘resilience’. Because if people make their homes stronger in the face of extreme weather, it reduces claims, displacement and trauma.

In 2021 Suncorp launched ‘One House to Save Many’ - the world’s first home designed, scientifically tested, and built to withstand cyclones, floods, and bushfires. ‘Resilience Road’ is about scaling the learnings from ‘One House’ and applying them to real houses, on a vulnerable street in Queensland.

The objectives of the campaign were to embed ‘resilience’ into the public discourse, to show how easy and affordable it can be to make your home more resilient, and to demonstrate that Suncorp was a leader in resilience.

Suncorp's mission is to 'Put Australia on the road to Resilience', so we took one of Australia's most vulnerable streets and made it one of the strongest. We analysed each home on a disaster-prone street in Queensland, and applied the scientific learnings and techniques from 'One House to Save Many' to make each home more resilient to bushfires, floods and cyclones.

The campaign was designed to teach Australians the value of resilience and how to make their homes stronger in the face of increasing extreme weather. And to continue to position Suncorp as an industry leader in resilience.

The effects of climate change are making entire regions in Australia uninsurable. And the outdated building codes are a significant part of the problem. If things don't change, the insurance industry itself is in jeopardy, because it will become unaffordable for the majority of Australians.

Each year, 97% of money is spent on recovery and only 3% is spent on prevention, so Suncorp has shifted their focus from one of recovery, to one of resilience. Because more resilient homes means less claims, and more affordable insurance for everyone.

‘Resilience Road’ was designed to teach people the value of having more resilient homes. And it hijacks the popularity of home renovation in Australia by encouraging and incentivising Australians to 'Make resilience their next Renovation'.

Suncorp’s target audience was mid to high income homeowners in Queensland. The broader audience was all Australian home-owners and government organisations.

Five neighbouring homes were chosen on a vulnerable street in the Central Queensland town of Rockhampton. This town was chosen because it is susceptible to floods, cyclones and bushfires.

Each house was analysed by experts, and upgraded with resilient features, so it could withstand extreme weather. The features were chosen based on the learnings from the previous ‘One House to Save Many’ project. Making ‘Resilience Road’ a real world scaled application of that innovation.

A short film documented the project. And a content series taught Australians how to build resilience into their homes. The content was targeted to renovation lovers and also appeared on the campaign website. The idea of 'resilience' was also integrated into Australia's biggest TV show. 'The Block' is a long-running renovation competition show that challenges couples to renovate and then sell homes for profit. This year, Suncorp incentivised them to add 'resilience' into the builds.

CAMPAIGN RESULTS:

Reached 95% of Queenslanders in the first 4 weeks of launch.

54,000+ unique website visitors.

33 million impressions.

BUSINESS IMPACT:

Suncorp are now rewarding customers for building resilience into their homes with industry leading products.

+75% increase in home policy growth (a YOY record).

Maintained leadership position in home awareness.

Grown consideration position to #2.

+6.2% increase in new policies (Record quarter performance)

CULTURAL IMPACT:

Covered by several news outlets including multiple live crosses from ‘The Today Show’.

Partnered with Australia's most popular TV show - ‘The Block’ - embedding resilience into the public discourse. The home renovation show rewarded participants for adding resilience to their builds.

The city of Rockhampton officially co-named the street Resilience Road.

Led by Suncorp, the Insurance Council of Australia has since launched Project Resilience, which aims to embed resilience into the National Construction Code by 2025.