UNICEF wanted us to highlight that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean drinking water during Gothia Cup, the world´s largest youth football tournament.

Water shortage is often communicated with pictures of dirty water. This would feel distant to most participants in Gothia Cup, and too close to others. And it wouldn’t grab their attention, which during Gothia Cup is directed towards football and flirting.

Our strategy was to use the ick-factor – to intrigue and activate the young, competitive players to get the conversation started.

We decided to build a sweat machine. This would be a perfect conversation starter on water shortage. It would involve the kids, our sponsors and get the information to spread organically. Brand-wise we would show in communication, what UNICEF shows every day on the field: that they are a highly innovative and brave organization.

Creative relevance

Water shortage is often communicated with pictures of dirty water. This would feel distant to most participants in Gothia Cup, and too close to others. And it wouldn’t grab their attention which during Gothia Cup is directed towards football and flirting. So we needed a new way to start a conversation about water shortage, to involve the kids, our sponsors and to get the information to spread. We built a sweat machine. Brand-wise we showed in communication, what UNICEF shows every day in the field; that they are a highly innovative organisation.

Results

-In one week, 2,300 drank sweat and thousands more watched.

-Sponsors provided UNICEF with water purification tablets, purifying 23 million litres of water.

-People who drank sweat spread it on Instagram and Twitter, with our hashtag.

-We reached close to a hundred million on Twitter alone.

-We had an earned media reach of more than a billion.

-We got a physical and intellectual exchange with thousands of kids.

-The budget for this campaign was, in total, including agency fees and sweat machine constructor, €25,000. UNICEF NY says it is one of the most successful clean water campaigns ever.