Electrical Safety Authority, Don’t Risk It  

Electrical Safety Authority

Unified Marketing Communications

Challenge:

Ontario homeowners continue to hire unlicensed electrical contractors because most assume anyone advertising electrical services is legitimate. While awareness of electrical safety risks existed, unsafe hiring behaviours persisted. ESA needed to influence decisions at the moment homeowners were choosing a contractor and encourage them to verify credentials before hiring. 

Insights:

Homeowners weren’t knowingly taking risks. The problem was that unlicensed contractors often looked just as credible as licensed ones, making it difficult to recognize warning signs when making hiring decisions. 

Approach:

We evolved ESA’s Don’t Risk It platform into a behaviour-change campaign focused on helping homeowners identify risky contractors and choose safer options. The creative centred on exaggerated Super Sketchy contractor characters and Permit Pete, using humour to make common red flags memorable. An integrated media strategy combined radio, digital out-of-home, social, video, search, Kijiji and retargeting to reach homeowners throughout their renovation journey. Experiential activations and retail partnerships brought the message into real-world renovation environments, while every touchpoint encouraged use of ESA’s Licensed Electrical Contractor (LEC) search tool. 

Impact:

The campaign delivered ESA’s highest-ever unaided brand awareness at 23%, with awareness rising to 41% among exposed audiences. Understanding of LEC hiring requirements increased to 60%, while the LEC search tool generated 50,697 visits, an 18% increase and a strong indicator of safer hiring behaviour. Supported by 68 million paid impressions and 11.4 million earned impressions, Don’t Risk It successfully turned awareness into action, helping more Ontarians verify contractors before hiring and reducing exposure to unsafe electrical work.