Yorkshire Water is launching a major campaign to offer customers advice on protecting water pipes during winter, in preparation for potentially freezing temperatures – even though indoor pipes do not fall under its remit.
Yorkshire-based agency Iris Associates has created the Wrap Up winter campaign, in response to challenges faced by Yorkshire Water last year, when cold weather prompted a high number of customer calls regarding issues with frozen customer pipes.
While household pipes do not fall under the jurisdiction of water suppliers, Yorkshire Water wanted to help get its customers prepared for winter by providing them with all the advice they need to make their homes winter-ready.
The campaign is based around the creative idea of a house literally ‘wrapped up’ against the cold using knitted materials that are in keeping with the winter theme.
Wrap Up will use a combination of targeted emails and direct mail, outdoor advertising, bill inserts and website visuals to communicate the best ways to protect household pipes during the cold weather. Schools are also being targeted with special mailpacks, and Yorkshire Water vans will also carry livery connected to the campaign.
The campaign will run throughout the winter period, covering Yorkshire Water’s entire customer base.
Leanda Trethewey from Yorkshire Water said: “Last year, because of the prolonged freezing conditions, a large number of our customers struggled with frozen and burst pipes. Although it is not our responsibility to maintain or repair issues on private pipes, we tried to help out as many people as possible.
“This year we want to help people get prepared by offering them lots of advice and offers to help protect their homes in advance of winter. Iris has devised a creative platform that conveys the central message of the campaign in a simple yet distinct way, and has executed this across every part of the campaign to ensure our customers are presented with advice that is engaging and accessible.”
Iris Associates founder David Wood said: “Yorkshire Water’s campaign is an inventive way of offering customers the right kind of help during cold weather, while simultaneously reducing reliance on its call centre. Using the image of a wrapped up home we’ve been able to instantly communicate the fact that prevention is better than cure, which in turn will help to reduce the number of burst pipes once winter takes hold.”
