The 28-year-old, who is a firefighter in Chatham, stars in a 24-second film, wearing both her England kit and firefighting gear. In the spot she is hoisted up by two fire service colleagues (Jody Morgan and Aaron Tongue) in the style of a rugby line-out so that she can push the test button on a smoke alarm.
Kicking off last Tuesday (20 November) ahead of the last Quilter Internationals match, when England Women beat Ireland Women, the film is intended to encourage people to "lift their game" and test their alarms every week. With its match-style commentary, the spot is aimed at sports fans who are not necessarily targeted by typical smoke-alarm comms – predominantly men and women aged 25-35.
The campaign's key messages are that viewers should test their alarms regularly to ensure they receive an early warning in case of a fire. The call-to-action messages are "Lift your game to keep your team safe", with hashtags #LiftYourGame, #TestItToday and #TestItTuesday (the campaign launch day).
The video is being posted across KFRS' Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The posts are also being shared with local Facebook pages, such as for local rugby teams, which have been sent a link to the video.
The video is being hosted on the fire service’s YouTube channel so it can be embedded onto the organisation’s website, and included with press materials. The press release has been automatically sent to KFRS’ news subscribers via the GovDelivery digital comms platform.
The campaign will continue with a series of videos reinforcing the messaging throughout the rugby season into 2019.
The campaign’s success will be gauged using social-media engagement measures. So far, in the six days since launch, it has received 9,700 Facebook views, with a reach of 18,740 and 636 reactions, including 113 shares and 2,457 post clicks.
The single Twitter post has received 4,700 views, 41 retweets and 81 likes, while the Instagram post has had 1,045 views, 158 likes, 26 actions and a reach of 2,088.
KFRS’ comms team said social engagements have been positive among the dominant 25- to 34-year-old audience. Digital analysis will be used to continue measuring the campaign’s impact across each of its communications channels.
KFRS communications officer Sacha Taylor told PRWeek: "At Kent Fire and Rescue Service, we constantly look at ways to reach a range of different segments of our community with essential fire-safety messages.
"This video uses a positive sporting role model to inspire others to test their smoke alarms and has been very well received, and shared, among its intended target audience. It also reinforces positive messages about the role of women in both sport and operational firefighting, which are both areas we look to influence as a service."
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