Living Lab Northern Rivers
After the biggest flood in modern Australian history hit the Northern Rivers in 2022, a group of locals decided to try a new approach to disaster recovery. They called themselves Living Lab Northern Rivers, and became a place where communities, governments and universities could tackle the root causes of vulnerability together.
Projects delivered:
Turning a big idea into a message that decision-makers could act on.
"This is the team to have in your corner! Fireside distilled our ambitions, messages and audiences into a beautifully crafted narrative strategy. We now feel energised, match-fit and ready.”
- Megan Louis, Design & Delivery Lead, Living Lab Northern Rivers
The challenge
Living Lab Northern Rivers had a truly innovative model for disaster recovery – one that put the community in the driver's seat rather than waiting for government to lead. The problem was that nobody outside their immediate circle could quite grasp what they were building or why it mattered.
Their website buried their origin story. Their social channels repeated the same content to wildly different audiences. And with stakeholders ranging from Lismore locals to government officials to international academics, a one-size-fits-all message wasn't going to cut it.
To get their model off the ground and attract the partners and funding they needed, they needed a clear narrative and a plan for how to use it.
The approach
The core idea turned out to be simple: position Living Lab as the place where problem solvers and solution finders meet. We shaped the whole narrative strategy around this concept, weaving their origin story and vision into a case for a new kind of community recovery.
But a single message was never going to be enough. Government partners needed to see a credible recovery model they could get behind. Professional experts needed an invitation to something worth joining. And the community needed to see the Lab as a place that wanted their involvement.
We distilled all of this into an action plan they could put to work over 18 months, giving the Lab everything they needed to bring the right people on board.
The impact
Armed with a clear narrative and a plan to tell it to their six key audiences, Living Lab secured new funding partnerships, expanded their stakeholder network and began attracting the kind of attention – from government, industry and academia – that their model had always deserved. For the first time, the work had a voice to match its ambition.
Here’s what we learned:
Here’s what we learned:
- Three hours in a room can unlock 18 months of direction – if you ask the right questions.
- Audiences don't need to understand your whole model. They need one clear idea they can hold onto.
- With the right tools, ordinary people can lead the way on the big issues affecting us all.
