What it had to solve
Make an invisible utility memorable ahead of winter and build brand recognition for the moments — moving house, renovating — when customers actually switch.
The idea
Literalise an invisible fuel: Scorchy the Dragon breathes fire through precision cooking, instant hot water and heating, jolting people mid-task
How it works
One 30-second and three 15-second TVCs, plus an unbranded 60-second cinema piece, OOH, bus wraps, digital and radio, airing from 26 March to August 2017; VFX, animation and live action blended by director Tim Bullock through Scoundrel.
What it did
Scorchy — named via an internal competition — fronted the campaign through August 2017; no results figures reported.
Background
In March 2017 Australian energy company Jemena launched a campaign by BWM Dentsu to show NSW households how Natural Gas makes home comforts 'Instantly Better', timed to winter. The campaign comprised one 30-second and three 15-second TVCs plus an unbranded 60-second cinema piece, out-of-home, bus wraps, digital and radio, first airing on 26 March 2017 and running to August.
The star is Scorchy the Dragon, a fire-breathing pet who literalises natural gas's benefits — precision cooking, instant controllable hot water and heating — by jolting people out of everyday tasks of preparing a meal, bathing and keeping warm. ECD Asheen Naidu said the team played with absurd ways to create energy and 'that led us to a fire-breathing dragon', crediting a brave client for approving it.
Marketing manager Kate Hawke said the fuel's biggest challenge is that it is invisible, and with 70 per cent of customers more likely to switch at the time of a major event such as moving house or renovating, a character like Scorchy was meant to build brand recognition so natural gas is front of mind when those moments arrive. Jemena distributes natural gas to more than 1.3 million homes and businesses across NSW. No results figures are reported.
Why it lands
You cannot film an invisible product, so the campaign gave it a visible, likeable body with fire as the proof of benefit.
Winter timing put the message in front of customers during the cold months when hot water and heating matter most.
The 70% switch-at-major-events insight made brand recognition, not immediate response, the campaign's real KPI.
An internal naming competition gave the agency's dragon a home-grown name — and the client's staff a stake in it.
What you can take
When the product's problem is invisibility, the fix is a character who makes it impossible to ignore.
Since then
The campaign ran from 26 March through August 2017 across TV, cinema, OOH, bus wraps, digital and radio. No results figures are reported.
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