The Dry House — Insurance Bureau of Canada

The Challenge: Make Sewers Sexy. 

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) needs to deliver an urgent message – the rapid rise in extreme weather nationwide is putting pressure on our municipal infrastructure, on Canadians’ homes and on the cost of insurance.

Consumers need to know that they can do some key things to keep their homes dry.    

Our solution: 

Going beyond traditional public relations, The Gabor Group launched a campaign centered on a massive high-tech interactive touch-screen display called The Dry House. 

Featured at special events across Ontario by Gabor-trained Event Ambassadors, The Dry House presents key information on a vast video wall that shows a cross-section of a two-storey family home with trouble spots, such as a leaky dishwasher or a basement sewer backup, that cause expensive water damage.  

Using the interactive technology of the video wall, we created a game and invited participants to figure out how to prevent water leakage in their homes. Participants drag and drop the images they think will prevent water leaks. Their efforts are timed and winners receive gift certificates for purchases at local hardware stores. 

Click here to see The Dry House drawing attention at the Spring 2011 London Home Show. A Small Dry House, which is portable for use at smaller venues, also tours with Gabor-trained Event Ambassadors.  

An online version of The Dry House is also used in an online contest supported by a social media campaign.   

Results: 

The Dry House provides important information in an entertaining format; the positive experience enhances the reputation of the entire insurance industry. 

After consumers participate in The Dry House Challenge, they are given the opportunity to enter a contest and register for future contact by email. Fifty-four percent of participants gave IBC permission for future communication. Their email addresses are used in ongoing campaigns that keep them engaged with IBC’s issues.  

Local media has often featured The Dry House in its coverage of home shows and other events. Because The Dry House is a current campaign, no further results are available.