Damage Prevention Messaging — Can it be as simple as a STOP sign?

Think of the most successful awareness campaigns you’ve ever seen. What was it that made the message stick? Was it a single ingredient or element? Was it a jingle? An image? A character? A phrase?

A couple of campaigns stick out — Smokey the Bear and Iron Eyes Cody from the Keep America Beautiful campaign of the 1970s. These two campaigns had lasting power and were hugely responsible for creating awareness and initiating positive change. 

For me, the most successful awareness campaign, or tool, ever created was the stop sign.

Every person who drives a motor vehicle today knows what a stop sign is and what we do when we encounter one. Although the language might be different, its shape and colour are consistent wherever you go in North America and most places around the world. We see it and we react accordingly for safety. 

Damage prevention messaging needs to be the same. It needs to be consistent, simple and direct, alerting people to behave in a manner that will protect them and the utilities they are working near.

Through our desire to stand out, though, we’ve unintentionally diluted the damage prevention landscape with multiple messages that can confuse as much as they instruct. We’ve told people to Call Before You Dig, DigSafe, Know What’s Below, Look Up and Live — all of these are great but were they game changers? Could they have the same impact as the simple stop sign? 

It seems like such a simple challenge but it isn’t. Finding the right tool is an enormous task and implementing it as the standard for use seems next to impossible, but it can be done.

Mike Sullivan – President, USP