2011 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

By asking people to take an active step – as simple as signing a pledge – and then making it locally relevant, we got people to focus on water conservation and how little changes add up to a big impact. Over 3,100 pledged to save water, with Riyadh beating Jeddah by 90. 70% of pledgers further educated themselves by reading tips. On changing behaviour, a 35% increase in purchase intent of a front-loading washing machine to the benefit of Ariel. Top of mind brand awareness grew 32%; brand favourability increased 15%, surpassing that of market-leader Tide. Source: Nielsen AdEffect study

Creative Execution

The Ariel campaign pitted different cities against one another. City pride was the hook, and water conservation the big prize. The www.SaudiWaterSavers.com website offered information, tips and records of pledges. People signed on to pledge to save water. It gave locally relevant tips: e.g. not keeping the tap running during prayer rituals could save five litres of water each time. Visitors made pledges, and shared them on Facebook and Twitter. Ariel kept a record of which cities led the way in conservation. Ahmed Al-Shugairi, a famous local TV presenter, became the ambassador for Ariel’s conservation efforts, helping take the campaign far and wide. Ariel’s efforts were acknowledged by the Ministry of Water & Electricity, which lent the campaign the government stamp of approval. Ariel knew then the campaign had hit the mainstream.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Welcome to Saudi Arabia. Lots of oil. Heaps of sand. But no natural water. The population of 28 million depends on desalination plants. Yet, Saudi still has the highest per capita water consumption rates in the world. The average citizen does not realise this, but the country is heading for severe water shortages. Ariel is designed to be Future Friendly, and use 40 per cent less water with front-loading machines. Even if 10 per cent of washing machine users could be convinced to switch to using Ariel with front loaders, Saudi could save over 4.8 million cubic metres of water a year. Trying to scare people to change their behaviours with statistics hasn’t worked in the past. So Ariel decided to tap into our countrymen’s competitive spirit to show how groups of people making small steps together could create lasting change – now and for future generations.