When WaterAid said they wanted to launch an integrated drive to recruit regular givers and supporters for their campaigns, we knew they were talking crap.
To be more precise, they were talking diarrhoea. It kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined in the world’s poorest countries. And it gave us the perfect way to talk about sanitation as a theme to recruit a new audience, persuading them to do something about it, by responding to a TV ad; or to tell their friends about it, by forwarding their email
Our TV ad uses the ‘diarrhoea song’ to make a direct link to our targets, contrasting humour from schoolchildren in the UK with the tragic story sung by a young Zambian boy.
The viral film literally shows not tells what life is like if you can’t escape from excrement.
It all adds up to a powerful reason to believe – and to support WaterAid as a donor or a campaigner.
PR stunt in Trafalgar Square
TV ad
Viral film
Comments
15 December 11
By: Karin Weatherup
Why haven't I seen this??
This Wateraid TV ad is great, in that the second the soundtrack started, my family all laughed and congregated round the laptop to see what I was looking at. They stayed with it too, and at the end asked about why people so need toilets. Success in 60 seconds. It's great too that it's about something specific and thought-provoking, not just yet another film of poor children looking miserable and then turning into colour as they play round a nice shiny water pump. Great. Wish I'd done it.