E-News

News / Consumables & Supplies

NZ newspapers rise from the ashes

The NZ Fire Services ad printed with ink and ash
 

When Kiwis around New Zealand picked up their morning newspapers on June 15, they were holding a piece of a local house devastated by fire. The NZ Fire Service launched the hard-hitting campaign via ad agency FCB Media to draw attention to the importance of smoke alarms through a newspaper ad printed with a combination of ink and ash.   

The campaign was launched after NZ Fire Service won News Works’ inaugural Day of Influence challenge, giving it $300,000 worth of free advertising to be used in a single day across newspapers, web and mobile.

For the initiative, NZ Fire Service and FCB collected the remains of a South Auckland home and infused it with ink, using it to print an article which ran in the New Zealand Herald. The article tells the story of how a fire swept through the home of Cathylyn Palaa, where she lived with her brother, his wife and their six children; as well as confrontational statistics on house fires in New Zealand to emphasise the importance of a working smoke alarm.

Local stories infused with ink and ash from recent regional fires also featured in the Otago Daily Times, Southland Times, Christchurch Press, Hawke’s Bay Today, Bay of Plenty Times, Waikato Times, Taranaki Daily News and the Dominion Post on July 15 – the Day of Influence.

At each location, the ash was blended in a machine and then in a pestle and mortar, to remove lumps, before being added to the printing ink the night prior to the print run. 

The New Zealand Herald article was also the basis of a TVC, showing how the articles were created and featuring Palaa and family members revisiting the burned down home, where the family lost everything except their lives.

Hilary Barrett, media manager at FCB, said: “With frequent media stories about fires, Kiwis can get over-exposed to the point of becoming desensitised. We wanted to use this fantastic opportunity to demonstrate, through the power of print, the danger of fires.

FCB’s idea to let New Zealanders literally hold the remains of a house devastated by fire aimed to get as many Kiwis as possible to install or check their smoke alarms in their homes on a single day.

Diane Hannay, News Works’ head of marketing, said the judges were delighted to have found a strong entry that leveraged the power of integration across print, digital and mobile media. “While there were many highly creative entries, the Fire Service campaign stood out for its unique use of print media.”

 
Tell friends Print this page
 1231