“Know Your Zone” Campaign

Creative features actual NYC emergency
response volunteers
who reside in various city hurricane zones.

The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is in full swing and predicted by some to be worse than usual. C&G Partners this year expanded its “Know Your Zone” hurricane evacuation preparedness campaign on behalf of long-time client NYC Emergency Management with a new geo-targeted effort using digital signage on LinkNYC kiosks throughout the city.

Know Your Zone 2017, PSA, Image Courtesy C&G Partners

Background

Following the devastating impacts of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, New Yorkers have proven resilient thanks in part to NYC Emergency Management’s ongoing education, support and relief efforts. The “Know Your Zone” (http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/em/html/know-your-zone/knowyourzone.html) initiative empowers everyone in the city to know what to do if disaster strikes again.

In addition to “Know Your Zone” campaign branding, website and public service ads, C&G Partners also designed the well-known map and color system that define the city’s six hurricane evacuation zones, as well as the campaign symbol of concentric circles corresponding to the six zone colors.

New creative concept for 2017

C&G Partners designers were tasked in 2017 with the challenge of crafting messages and visuals that are eye catching, memorable and motivating.

This year’s “Know Your Zone” campaign features portraits and personal hurricane preparedness tips from eight actual volunteers from Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) who themselves live in a number of the city’s different hurricane evacuation zones.

To convey the serious subject matter, the black & white volunteer portraits have somber tone offset by vibrant campaign graphics. Photography of the volunteers was done using a Hasselblad-Phase One with a 120mm lens, bringing portraits to life on large-scale digital signage kiosks and bus shelter ads.

Geo targeting via digital signage

The “Know Your Zone” campaign, which includes posters, newspaper ads and website, this year included digital signage on LinkNYC (https://www.link.nyc/) kiosks across the five boroughs.

A new communications network replacing New York City pay phones, each state-of-the-art Link kiosk is equipped with free services like high-speed Wi-Fi, device changing, phone calls, and a tablet for city maps and services. The kiosks also feature a large-scale surface to accommodate digital signage.

Relevant preparedness content was geo targeted via the digital signage by hurricane zone within the city, with different messages related to the specific zone where each Link kiosk is located.

For example, the portrait of CERT volunteer and Manhattan (Zone 2) resident Carol and dog Mickey is accompanied with copy reading: “I know my pet is welcome in a hurricane evacuation center.”

According to NYC Emergency Management, the campaign appeared on about 1,700 LinkNYC kiosks in all five boroughs of New York and garnered approximately 1 million impressions.