Smokey says press the button this daylight saving

This daylight saving we’re introducing Smokey the smoke alarm to New Zealand households, with the aim of motivating people to push the button to check their smoke alarms are working.

Smokey fronts our new campaign which complements the strong message from our firefighters don’t like fire movies campaign.

As you’ll see, Smokey is represented as a friendly, humanised smoke alarm with the message that when you look after your smoke alarms, they’ll look after you.

This new creative concept has been tried and tested with focus groups, which have shown that together with the successful firefighters don’t like fire movies campaign, the lighter and friendlier approach appeals to a broad audience, and encourages people to take ownership of their smoke alarms.

After daylight saving, Smokey will encourage the public to ensure they have smoke alarms in every bedroom, hallway and living area in their home to protect them.

There are 15 second TV ads in English, Te Reo, Samoan, and Tongan (with English subtitles), as well as a range of social media assets available for our people to share.

Get resources

We’ve developed resources to help you share our messages. Check out our resources page on the Risk Reduction bookshelf.

What you can do

As a member of Fire and Emergency, remember that you can play an important advocacy role by encouraging your networks and community to install and check their smoke alarms this daylight saving.

The launch of this campaign is a sound time to offer your services and expertise more proactively through our Home Fire Safety Visit intervention programme.

When you’re out talking to the public, friends and whanau, remember to share our fire safety messages: When you look after your smoke alarms, they look after you.