Andy Powell // Creative Director

Client: WaterAid
Project: Untapped matched funding appeal
Media: TV, direct mail, posters, digital, PR, microsite, chatbot
Scope: Strategy, naming, guidelines, copywriting, art direction, creative direction.
 

Campaigns don't come more exciting than Untapped. We set out to change the way big integrated charity appeals are done forever. Goodbye sympathy, hello empathy. So long 'them and us', welcome to a world of engagement.

 

WaterAid wanted to raise £6 million, but they wanted it to be different. And, wow, did Untapped deliver. Starting with a life-changing trip to Sierra Leone, we were welcome by the incredible people of Tombohuaun – a community that the locals call paradise; with the exception of one vital ingredient: clean water.

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Untapped let villagers tell their stories, and invite us to be part of their community. They began by giving everybody on Facebook a name in the local Mende language – just like they do for real. And invited people to use a chatbot and online videos to find out more about the way their lives are different – and, more often, the same – as ours. We even created geo-targeted taxi toppers that asked people to go from their own 'village' within London to Tombohuaun.

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Only then did we invite people to donate. And the funds came rolling in – to the tune of £8.4 million. No wonder it won Best Integrated Campaign and Best Charity Campaign at the DMA Awards, as well as the Campaigns for Good Awards, The Drum and the Third Sector Awards. But, most importantly, the campaign brought clean water to Tombohuaun – and many more communities just like them.