Shaping a Safer Future, One Call at a Time
CLIENT: BC 1 Call
PROJECT: Rebrand & Public Awareness Campaigns
/ Services Provided
Media + Public Relations
Crisis, Issues + Reputation Management
/ Background
For more than 25 years, BC 1 Call has played a vital role in public safety across British Columbia by connecting homeowners, contractors, and utility professionals with the information they need to dig safely. It serves as a central point of contact between the people doing the digging and the infrastructure owners whose buried systems — including those of BC Hydro, FortisBC, municipalities, and First Nations — are essential to everyday life in the province.
As a nonprofit, BC 1 Call is responsible for educating the public about the risks of disturbing underground infrastructure. It also provides a free, province-wide notification service that helps prevent costly and dangerous excavation-related incidents. Despite the importance of this mandate, public recognition of the service had stalled. Many users were either unaware of BC 1 Call’s role or did not understand the consequences of failing to use the service.
Since 2018, Munro/Thompson has worked alongside BC 1 Call to strengthen its voice, sharpen its message, and expand its reach. Through a mix of strategic planning, brand development, digital advocacy, and public campaigns, we have helped shift public behaviour, increase awareness, and reduce preventable damage to critical infrastructure across the province.
/ Where We Came In
- Strategic Reset & Setting the Foundation (2018) – Conducted a full communications audit, refreshed the brand, launched a new website, and established BC 1 Call’s modern social media presence.
- Building Presence (2019) – Set up new social media channels, implemented a new social media plan, introduced promotional campaigns and contests, launched new stakeholder newsletters, and ran the first Google Ads campaign.
- Expanding Reach (2020-2021) – Delivered annual Safe Digging Month campaigns, launched surveys for members/users, and managed crisis communications during the Sumas Prairie floods.
- Breakthrough PSA Campaign (2022-2023) – Produced BC 1 Call’s first large-scale public service announcement campaign in years, consisting of short educational PSA ads that highlight the potential risks to personal safety and underground infrastructure – if you don’t use BC 1 Call’s free and easy service. The first campaign ran across TV, radio, digital, and social platforms.
- Campaign Amplification & Sustained Engagement (2023-2024) – Continued PSA campaigns, targeted awareness weeks (e.g., Sewer Safety), streamlined newsletters, and expanded stakeholder engagement tools including stakeholder content kits to help amplify the one call message.
- Established Leadership (2025) – Produced new ads for a 2025 campaign highlighting the complex network of utilities hidden beneath our communities across rural, urban and suburban environments.
/ The Deliverables
- Communications Audit
- Strategic Communications Plan
- Brand Development
- Web Design + Development
- Launch Strategy + Execution
- Marketing Collaterals
- Social Media Planning & Execution
- Strategic Campaign Planning
- Video Production
- Digital Marketing
/ 2023 PSA Crew
Director + DOP – Brandon Thompson
Producer – Amanda Munro
Creative Director – Joel Kadziolka
VFX – Khyber Creative
Post Audio – Keith White Audio
Voiceover – Chris G. Miller
/ 2025 PSA Crew
Director – David Peacock
DOP – Liam Mullany
Producers – Brandon Thompson + Amanda Munro
Creative Director – Joel Kadziolka
VFX – Khyber Creative
Post Audio – Keith White Audio
Voiceover – Chris G. Miller
Launched during BC 1 Call’s annual Dig Safe spring campaign, the 2023 PSAs helped significantly boost public awareness of the risks of digging without checking first.
Anchored by the tagline “You never know what’s down below,” the campaign reached households across BC through television, radio, digital, and social channels — turning a critical safety message into a province-wide conversation.
The strong visual storytelling and timing drove increased traffic to BC 1 Call’s platform and reinforced the brand’s position as a trusted public safety voice.
In 2025, BC 1 Call’s PSA campaign built on the success of previous years to deepen public understanding of what’s at stake when underground infrastructure is disturbed.
Framed around the essential services hidden just beneath our feet — internet, water, emergency response, and more — the campaign elevated the urgency of safe digging practices and reinforced the everyday importance of BC 1 Call’s free service. Broadcast across TV, radio, and digital channels, the campaign reached communities across BC, sparking renewed conversations around safety and responsibility.
/ The Results
Over the years, we have worked with BC 1 Call to solidify its evolution into a recognized, trusted, and enduring public safety brand across British Columbia.
- Brand Transformation – From limited recognition, BC 1 Call evolved into a modern, credible, and visible organization with a unified voice.
- Massive Awareness Growth – Social media contests, PSA campaigns, and Safe Digging Month established BC 1 Call as a household name across British Columbia, seeing public familiarity with the brand grow by 30% from 2021 to 2024.
- Stakeholder Trust – Regular newsletters, surveys, and member reports deepened engagement with ~20,000+ users and members.
- Sustained Impact – Over six years, BC 1 Call’s awareness campaigns have reached broad public and industry audiences, embedding the “click or call before you dig” message across BC.
Our multi-year partnership with BC 1 Call has been highly successful at decreasing damage incidents to underground infrastructure for all its members and increasing public awareness of the potential safety risks of not contacting BC 1 Call.
In April 2025, Fortis BC announced that gas line damages in 2024 were at their lowest level in more than 20 years. Fortis particularly highlighted BC 1 Call’s role in this success: “The strong correlation between increased BC 1 Call usage and the decline in gas line damages is clear,” said Ada Nadison, Public Safety Manager at FortisBC.
