UL PSA—CRITTERS

For more than a century, UL has been delivering their safety mission, and public service announcements (PSAs) have been a key method for UL to reach broader audiences. As sponsors of the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C., UL had the opportunity to feature a PSA to a large, live audience and more than 400,000 TV viewers. With less than two months, we faced a great opportunity to create a PSA that would build understanding and appreciation around the role UL can play in making people’s lives safer.

The New Science B2B campaign was entering its second successful year and seemed the perfect vehicle to carry a PSA message. We discovered quickly that New Science lent itself well to a more approachable message about safety for broader audiences. Each theme of the New Science campaign became an ingredient in the safety of our lives, and the icons we used to describe those themes transformed into adorable little characters called “critters.”

Combining live action with character animation, we planned, designed, edited, and produced the spot that featured on air live at the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C. and across UL’s digital properties. In the month that the critters spot aired, traffic to UL’s Website and social channels reached record highs. The PSA remains one of UL’s most watched ever with more than 50,000 views.