Yorkshire Water winter campaign created by Iris Associates

The campaign will run throughout the winter period, covering Yorkshire Water’s entire customer base, and will use a combination of targeted emails and DM, 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 direct mail packs, and Yorkshire Water vans will also carry livery connected to the campaign.

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.”

David Wood, founder of Iris Associates, 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.”