Thinkerbell

Client: NRMA Insurance
Product: NRMA Insurance
Title: Climate Warriors
Media: Game, Digital
Country: GLOBAL
Date Of Campaign: 15/04/2021

Background: During the Summer of 2019/20, Australia faced some of the worst bushfires in history. Known as the “Black Summer bushfires”, they took lives, destroyed homes and natural habitats, and killed millions of Australian animals. However, most importantly it reminded us all of the very real impact of climate change, which continues to increase the severity and frequency of natural disasters. With NRMA Insurance’s brand proposition centred around ‘Help’, this leading insurer wanted to take a proactive approach to combat future bushfires that are caused by climate change. And whilst the older generation has experienced bushfires before, their attitudes towards being proactively prepared has not changed. This can be illustrated by looking at the Australian school curriculum. Australia has not designed, implemented nor funded a coherent educational approach to our climate emergency. That's where NRMA Insurance wanted to step in and 'Help' educate the next generation to be more prepared.

Idea: We created the world’s first bushfire simulation in Minecraft, using NRMA Insurance’s Natural Perils Data we informed climate trends experienced in the game. With 29 million blocks we built and modelled a coastal town based in Australia prone to these events, researching the fauna and flora seen in these coastal areas to bring high level contextual engagement to the experience. Kids had to overcome challenges through a series of drills inspired by real life disaster safety actions like: Adding sprinklers to roof tops to fight ember attacks, clearing vegetation from boundaries too close to homes, using the correct building materials for the specific fire zoning, helping wildlife without endangering yourself, creating an evacuation plan, reading fire danger reports, planting trees to recover post disaster, and much more.

Results: Creating an Australian-first climate change educational platform was met with open arms. The platform has already accumulated more than 500k downloads in the first week alone.. This equates to 26% of primary school students across Australia. Furthermore, Australia’s largest news broadcaster, the ABC, and other broadcasters reported on Climate Warriors, reaching more than one third of Australian households and counting. The game quickly gained fame amongst gamers, too. During the launch week, 196,637 people viewed local gamers playing whilst educating themselves to become more bushfire prepared. But most important of all, our Climate Warriors are here to stay. They have been approved as part of the Australian curriculum, thus arming students with vital knowledge to better protect themselves and their families from the inevitable. We made our Climate Warriors globally available in hope that other countries will teach their children at school.