The world is in crisis – and people have become numb to constant images of suffering. They no longer respond to communications that promote charitable causes by depicting misery. This particularly applies to awareness of refugee deaths in the Mediterranean, which is steadily falling. This is something civilian maritime rescue organisation Sea-Watch knows all too well. And for an NGO with no state-run alternative, which is totally reliant upon donations, it’s a catastrophe. These vital donations, which are required to maintain their rescue vessels, can only be generated by raising awareness. But how to reawaken people’s interest in this topic and penetrate the predominant influencer lifestyle themes?

We created a Trojan horse: a fictitious ‘lifestyle drink’, erTrinkwasser, that was intended to infiltrate the lives of the target audience.

Every asset, especially the 4,000 OOH placements, initially appeared to convey a positive lifestyle message. For example, the key visual headlines contained a double meaning that initially caused confusion. The growing sense that something was wrong with the motifs was confirmed by QR codes on the OOH motifs and the link to the landing page, where users were confronted with the shocking revelation, along with the background to the campaign and an appeal for donations.

The campaign not only achieved 18 million views during the implementation period, but also gained a great many supporters for the message. TV reports provided additional national reach – all of which ensured that donations tripled within days. This money was urgently needed to purchase a new rescue vessel, Sea-Watch 5, and save lives.

For the whole family.

And the world falls quiet.

Water for when you’re on the move.

Just let yourself float.

In the motifs, we pushed the ambiguity of the headlines to the limit. Every line of the campaign had a double meaning: a lifestyle meaning and a more sombre meaning that referred to drowning in the Mediterranean. With puns generally only used in Germany in a humorous context, the shocking moment when the truth was revealed to the viewer was even more intense.