Digital creative agency Deepend has worked closely with the Victorian government to develop an animated fire safety program for children ahead of the bush fire season.

Before the bushfires started to rage in areas of Victoria, Deepend delivered every grade five and six student who attended schools on the Victorian Bushfire Risk Register (VBRR) a copy of the game.

More than 10,000 copies of the program, ‘Keep it Safe’, were distributed.

Kath Blackham, managing director of Deepend, said: “Living in Victoria we know firsthand how much of an impact the experience of living through a bushfire can be. The ‘Keep it Safe’ project was close to our teams’ hearts and we are excited that we can help kids and parents learn to protect themselves better through this initiative.”

Keep it Safe is a program that asks children to select five items they would want to keep safe from a fire. Those items are then personalised and given a character by the children before an email with fire safety information is sent to parents along with the items their kids wished to save.

The program was given to students as USB wristbrand (pictured below) which had been purposely packaged to look like a toy.

                               

Charlotte Bull, senior advisor at the Victorian Department of Justice, said: “Deepend has helped us to create a platform on which communicating with both children and adults has been made a more intuitive process.”

“The way that the ‘Keep it Safe’ project starts with children and then indirectly educates those older than them is a very powerful tool for the Department of Justice as it is common for adults to fall into the mentality of ‘it won’t happen to me’ when it comes to bushfires.

“By creating an intrinsic link to the child’s possessions the importance of bushfire preparedness is reinforced.”

For more information and to play the game click here.