Affinity launches TV campaign on leakage

Affinity Water has launched a television advert campaign to inform customers about its leak repair work as a precursor to ramping up the company’s efficiency message.

A 30 second animated advert explaining how the company finds and fixes leaks will run across Sky, YouTube and ITV during April as well as local and digital radio stations and a social media campaign.

The company said the campaign was designed to address consumer concerns about the amount of water lost to leaks across Affinity’s network.

Head of marketing and experience, Peter Duys, said it will be followed by ramped up efficiency efforts: “We know from our research that when we ask customers to save water, they want to know what we are doing to address leaks on our network. They want us to get our own house in order before we ask them to take action”

The advert shows the technologies used to locate leaks around the clock. It is the first time the company used television to engage with billpayers.

“We want to tell our customers how dedicated we are to finding and fixing leaks on our network. We invest in highly skilled committed teams who work around the clock using cutting edge technology. This is the first time we have communicated to our customers what we do,” Duys added.

Communicating this behind-the-tap work to its 3.6 million customers across the south east complements the company’s Save our Streams SOS campaign that launched last April to cut consumption by 21 megalitres daily.

Affinity has one of the highest rates of per capita consumption (PCC) in England and Wales with its customers using 162 litres daily on average compared to national average of 142 litres. It has a PCC reduction target of 12.5% during 2020-25, a goal made more challenging by behavioural change resulting from the coronavirus pandemic that pushed consumption up by around 9%.