Not very long ago, Tasmanians didn’t pay for water. But that all changed fairly recently.
Southern Water had the difficult task of introducing residential water meters and other pricing increases (required to combat ageing infrastructure in Southern Tasmania) into a community that perceived water to be in abundant supply and also a ‘birth right’.
Watersense makes sense. With this campaign position, we defused community angst and anger about the upcoming changes.
The brand campaign and many subsequent communications dealt with the complex issues to such a degree that employees of Southern Water reported feeling pride again. One employee even got a tattoo of our water meter mascot, ‘Merl’.
The campaign meant the changes went ahead with overall barely a ripple.
‘Shopper docket’ sensibility
My strategic thinking for this creative campaign was to use ‘shopper docket’ thinking to highlight the dollars and cents savings that also happen when looking after our water resource.
How popular?
One employee even got a tattoo of our animated meter mascot, Merl - such was the change in positivity towards Southern Water from the public.