Southern Company Gas’ safety message recently got a ‘tune’-up
Looking for a novel way to advance the old message of safe digging, Southern Company Gas turned to Grammy Award-winning artist Chauncey “Black” Hannibal of Blackstreet to launch a new version of the group’s 1990s hit song
Thanks to the R&B singer’s enthusiasm for the project, the No Diggity Safe Digging Campaign was born, complete with a music video of the remixed song.
With the familiar tune and a catchy chorus—“Call 811 before you dig it; no diggity, don’t dig it up”—the song and the message easily get stuck in listeners’ heads. That’s exactly what Southern Company Gas hoped would happen.
“The idea was born out of necessity and a sense of urgency—we needed to find a unique way to educate people to call 811 before digging amid the noise of social media,” Fredie Carmichael, vice president, Southern Gas Company, told American Gas. “We started with a few hashtag campaigns, including #canyoudigit and #nodiggity. From there, we partnered with a social media advertising firm on fresh lyrics for No Diggity, and they got us in the door with Chauncey.”
The utility was hoping for a license to change the lyrics of the Blackstreet hit, but it got much more—personal buy-in from Hannibal, who was willing to sing the remix for the project.
The safety message is especially near to the singer’s heart because his father died in a tragic plant explosion in the mid-’90s, Carmichael said.
This initiative also marked the first time that Southern Company Gas employed an influencer model, using social media influencers from states it serves—Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois and Virginia—as the vehicle for promoting the message and video. One of the influencers also appears in the video.
“We are so thrilled that Chauncey partnered with us in this important effort,” said Kim Greene, chair, president and CEO of Southern Company Gas. “By leveraging such a creative remix to their song, we aim to educate more people about the importance of calling 811 before beginning any digging project.”
Carmichael said Hannibal expressed interested in helping with the message in future years. “Ultimately, our goal is to make digging safely not only the fun thing to do, but also the memorable thing to do—to keep everyone safe,” Carmichael said.