Inventiva Launches Safety Campaign For American Electric Power.

While nearly everyone knows electricity can kill, most people believe it would never happen to them. That leads to careless behavior around electricity, and forms the basis of a new safety campaign developed by San Antonio ad agency Inventiva, Inc. for client American Electric Power based in Columbus, OH.

TV, cable and print advertising seeks to convince adults in both the general and Hispanic markets that bad things can indeed happen to them if they don’t exercise caution around electricity. “The core of the campaign is the advice to be smart, plan ahead and call AEP,” said Teresa McWain, AEP Director, External Communications.

“Research in both general and Hispanic markets clearly showed that people think they’re ‘bullet-proof’ when it comes to working around electricity,” McWain said. “At the same time, injuries resulting from people coming in contact with electric wires continue to occur. The purpose of this campaign is to reduce injuries by getting people to plan ahead on those projects that bring them in contact with electric wires, and treat electricity with the respect it deserves.”

The campaign includes four new TV spots — two in English and two in Spanish. “Although the English and Spanish spots have the same messages, they are not translations of each other,” said Inventiva CEO Heberto Gutiérrez. “All spots are culturally relevant to their target audiences.”

The campaign began April 1, and will be flighted to run throughout 2003 in most AEP markets.