Williams Randall was hired to promote The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC)’s Indiana 811 service, a utility-line-flagging service for Hoosiers to contact before doing any private or commercial digging. The job had a second component, as well: to promote the relatively new practice of White Lining (detailed below).

In “The Only Way to Dig,” a fun, slightly absurdist live-action spot, several habitual “problem diggers” — a pirate, an archaeologist, a gravedigger, a beagle, a homeowner, and a contractor — have decided to leave their collectively checkered digging pasts behind. In order to do so, they’ve enrolled in a new corporate training held by Indiana 811 in their expansive (and 100% fictitious) facility, The Indiana 811 Digging Institute, to become experts in the safest and, really, only way to dig. The training is led by a hard-hatted 811 field-operative-turned-instructor, patiently educating the group on IURC’s terms, techniques and tools (and providing some good-natured juxtaposition to the class’ oddball characters). 

This concept was also used in audio spots for radio and streaming services. Additionally, standalone 6-second videos of the same characters were produced for use in social media and as buffer ads in popular digital channels like YouTube. 

Williams Randall also created a campaign landing page — 811.SafeDigIndiana.com — detailing the procedures, reasons, and benefits of White Lining. White Lining is the practice of drawing a white line on the ground around the intended dig area of an upcoming project involving excavation. This means that spotters will only place utility flags within that area specified by the white line, streamlining the entire process by vastly cutting down on the area to be flagged and the time spent investigating and marking it. Additionally, homeowners won't have a yard filled with utility flags to mow around that aren't part of the project area.

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Recognizing the landing page’s content would be most effective and evergreen if the bulk of it didn’t depend on the “Only Way to Dig” narrative, Williams Randall decided to focus chiefly on detailing White Lining in the most straightforward terms possible. That way, people simply looking for answers on an upcoming digging project could get them quickly and easily. One standout feature on the landing page is a fun and informative animated video tutorial explaining the process and benefits of White Lining in a simple, illustrative format, produced entirely in-house by the Williams Randall creative team.

The TV, radio, social and streaming spots, along with the landing page, are currently running, but you can check back here for updates on the results once it’s wrapped up. Until then, head to the landing page to get yourself up to speed on the “Only Way to Dig!”