Kids will believe anything if it’s wrapped up in a nice story, so using a colorful illustrated storybook and a breakthrough interactive mobile app, we convinced them that they had a fish living in their tummy, which they needed to care for by drinking water every day.

Using the mobile phone’s camera we were able to place the Tummyfish magically in kids bellies. This technique allowed us to bridge the real world with the virtual one and maintain the illusion of Tummyfish’s existence. The kids then had to care for their new friend.

Tummyfish’s behaviour mirrored the children’s drinking habits, using data input from the parents each day. Drinking water kept their Tummyfish happy and healthy whilst sugary drinks make her sad and unresponsive. Kids who improved their drinking habits watched their friend grow and were rewarded with mini-games, while parents were able to monitor consumption and track behaviour change.

We produced a beautifully illustrated children’s book and distributed it in schools and bookstores in countries across the Middle East. The book leads families to download the interactive mobile app where the story continues, allowing kids to meet their very own Tummyfish.

The behaviour of Tummyfish mirrored the children’s drinking habits, using data input by the parents each day. Kids who improved their drinking habits could watch their friend grow and were rewarded with mini-games, while parents were able to monitor consumption and track behavior change with daily reminders and statistics.

Once Tummyfish had been introduced and proved successful in the Middle East, we broadened our scope, by introducing it to a wider range of countries outside the region.

Tummyfish is making a big splash and is currently living in over 500,000 tummies in 11 countries around the world.

Kids who use the innovative mobile app have demonstrated a positive behavior change with a 79% increase in water consumption, adding up to over 1.5 million rewards unlocked so far.

Tummyfish was picked up by the Dubai Health Authority who featured the campaign at the Dubai Innovation Week and voted it as the number one health and wellness app of 2016.

The campaign has been so effective that the Dubai government has also endorsed it, and made it part of the National Schools Curriculum as a teaching tool in schools across the emirate.

This is just the beginning as Tummyfish is now being adapted to other languages and being rolled out globally in order to help even more children live healthier lives.