El Paso Water
Flood Awareness Campaign –
Life Changes in a Flash
The Project
El Paso is affectionately called the Sun City, and with over 300 days of sunshine, you might not think that flash floods would be much of an issue. The truth is that our region experiences a short, yet powerful, monsoon season that often produces intense, localized rains that can overwhelm our robust stormwater systems leading to flash flooding in our city streets, rivers, valleys and the many canals that run along our border.
When we were approached by El Paso Water to create an awareness campaign about the dangers of flash flooding, we were proud to be charged with the task of taking on this potentially lifesaving project.
The Approach
As we began our research, we were not surprised to learn about the danger that fast-moving stormwater can create in the form of flash floods. What was surprising to learn, is that even a mere few inches of floodwater can create a potentially life-threatening situation. We quickly realized that many people fall victim to this same misconception and made it our mission to inform El Pasoans that there is no safe amount of floodwater that anyone should attempt to forge, whether in a vehicle or on foot.
This led to the development of our creative themeline, “Life Changes in a Flash”. A clear message that provided both context to our campaign and introduced the attention grabbing and emotional nature it would carry. The sentiment was simple; in an instant, a flood can change your life if you don’t respect its power. For added equity, we paired our themeline with the national flood awareness slogan of “Turn Around Don’t Drown”. Spanish language assets included our custom transcreation of “En un Segundo Cambia La Vida – Aguas, No Te Ahogues”.
What followed was the creation of an educational campaign providing lesser known lifesaving flash flood safety tips coupled with bold visuals sure to be noticed. The campaign was launched using highly targeted media placement in flood prone areas in advance of the coming monsoon season. Our omnichannel media mix included TV/Radio/out-of-home, digital and social media placement.
TV made use of a dramatic visual hyperbole, placing our viewer in the moment of a vehicle's inundation under rising floodwaters, bringing to life the reality of a worst-case scenario while presenting flash flood facts. A twist ending relieves the tension and presents positive modeling behaviors for what to do in a flash flood; namely, turn around and don’t drown.
Radio featured a similar approach, using sound design to make the listener feel as if their vehicle was being surrounded by and eventually filled with rising flash flood water. Both executions featured the example of a vehicle due to the fact that most flash flood victims are usually in a vehicle when overtaken.
Out-of-home, digital and social media assets featured uniquely stark executions to include our creative themeline and artwork that visually represented rising flash flood waters.
The result was a comprehensive campaign, targeted in an efficient way and using bold creative that would connect with our city in advance of the coming monsoon season.