Vancouver Fire Department

ChallengeThe Vancouver Fire Department and the City of Vancouver have been working to reduce preventable fires through a variety of methods. After winning a federal grant to expand those efforts into a television/video campaign, they sought to create a memorable campaign that both caught attention and reduced the number of fires. The Fire Marshal wanted something striking, edgy, and “cool.”SolutionUsing an old familiar song, “Dem Bones,” we rewrote the lyrics to have a darker twist. We reached out to a celebrated animator, Matt Taylor, who has worked things such as Rick & Morty, MTV, Paramount Plus, and he loved the idea. With Matt on board to direct the project, we collaborated on the concept over the next 3 months to craft the campaign, including bringing in a talented musical team: Courtney Garvin & Jen Twynn Payne of The Courtneys and Joo-Joo-Ashworth of Froth. The result was a PSA that was of the quality of an animated show on Cartoon Network for a local Fire Department. Results“The Vancouver Fire Department and the City of Vancouver are thrilled with the PSA campaign that Mnemonic developed. I have heard from many members of the community who were impressed with the quality of work, as well as the impact it has had. We’re very excited that last year’s campaign won an international CLIO award which recognizes this accomplishment. As part of a larger fire prevention campaign, it has helped reduce the number of residential fires in Vancouver, which to us is the metric that matters most." - Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli