Yarra Valley Water puts customer care in the spotlight in new WaterCare campaign via Think HQ

Purpose-driven integrated communications agency Think HQ has launched an integrated campaign for Yarra Valley Water’s WaterCare program, designed to identify and support vulnerable customers and those facing financial hardship.

The campaign addresses the barriers customers face in accessing financial support, including low awareness of available options, and aims to overcome the stigma associated with asking for help by normalising conversations about bill payment options.

Using the tagline, ‘Whatever position you’re in, we’re here to help’, the creative aims to raise awareness of Yarra Valley Water’s WaterCare support program, drive proactive engagement among customers struggling to pay their bill, and build trust in the Yarra Valley Water brand.

The campaign followed research that found one in three concession cardholders were unaware they could claim up to 50 per cent off their annual bill, and low awareness of support options among vulnerable customers.

Creative executions include 30, 15 and 5-second videos, social media ads, OOH, direct marketing, eDMs and SMS messaging.

Working in collaboration with data services and credit reporting provider Experian, Think HQ drew on data science and machine learning algorithms to build predictive models around payment behaviours to refine campaign messaging and segmentation to reach the customers that would most benefit from support.

The communications focus shifts across the bill cycle, with targeted messaging through various touch points appropriate to each of the awareness, consideration, and action stages.

Reflecting the broad customer base of Melbourne’s largest retail water utility, creative was also designed to reach a range of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities including Arabic, Greek, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese, as well as First Nations peoples and concession card holders.

Says Andy Lima, group head of creative, Think HQ: “The research showed many customers who were struggling with bills didn’t know about the support or rebates that are available to them. This highly targeted campaign is designed to turn that around by reaching the people who will benefit most from accessing the support and rebates they may have been missing out on until now.”

Yarra Valley Water managing director Pat McCafferty said WaterCare is all about helping customers through dedicated support and tailored solutions to suit individual needs, with the utility assisting customers to claim over $52 million in concession discounts over the past 12 months: “Receiving your water bill shouldn’t cause extra stress. If people are finding it tough to keep on top of their bill, our WaterCare team is here to help.”

“This campaign will let them know not only what support is available to help them, but that the WaterCare team is there to help them navigate the options and find the best solution for their needs,” Tamara, YVW senior campaign specialist adds commenting on the purpose of the campaign.

Yarra Valley Water
Senior Campaign Specialist: Tamara Reid
Customer Strategy & Insights Manager: Julian Hill

Think HQ
Founder/Managing Director: Jen Sharpe
Group Head of Creative: Andy Lima
Creative Director: Simon Yeo
Senior Art Director: Nathan Barrow
Senior Copywriter: Ryan Graf
Art Director: Camilo Suarez
Head of Strategy and Research: Lani Cush
Senior Account Director: Torey Fitton
Production:
Director: John Sheedy
Integrated Producer: Grace Quinn
Production Assistant: Natasha Brock
Director of Photography: Michael Lincoln
Video Editor: Matthew Fregnan
Motion Graphics: Xiaohong Jiang, Roberta Ramalho

Experian
Evelyn Hamilton – Consultant Analyst
May Liew – Consultant Analyst
Jonathan Haniman – Lead Analytics Consultant
Anthony Lansdown – Commercial Manager
Matt Simjanoski – Account Manager
Girish Vatvani – Senior Solutions Consultant