2011 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

With a minuscule budget, we developed an original and innovative way of communicating with a notoriously hard-to-reach target audience. By incorporating an ‘interactive’ element into the page, we also breathed life into a traditional (and somewhat restrictive) format by creatively demonstrating the essence of GE’s water purification initiative in an impactful way. Finally, a word from CEO Middle East ‘It was one of the most creative ideas we’ve received in our magazines. It was very interactive to our readership and very well executed by the agency’.

Creative Execution

To target such a hugely influential target audience we firstly partnered with ‘CEO Middle-East’ – a key print title for decision-makers in the region. The next step was to demonstrate how GE takes water from the sea and purifies it for use on land, using print. To do this we took out a DPS in the center pages of CEO. The ad featured a shoreline and gentleman drawing an image in the sand depicting a tap protruding from the sea, filling a cup with water. We then incorporated an element of interactivity by placing an additional ‘transparent’ page in-between the DPS that concealed some innovative camouflaging. When the reader flipped the transparent page it gave the impression they were picking up sea water and placing it into the cup – the essence of GE’s water purification system. As the transparent page was thicker, it was impossible for the reader to ignore.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

‘Water water everywhere, not a drop to drink’ is an old adage that is becoming more and more of a reality. In fact, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for direct human use. In terms of the region, the UN envisages the problem getting worse and has classified the Middle-East as ‘vulnerable’ to water shortage in the future. With water shortage such an important issue, GE’s latest ‘ecomagination’ initiative is the development of a ‘water purification’ system – a sustainable solution to ensure people in the region never go without clean water. The system works by simply recycling sea water and then filtering it until it becomes purified, allowing crops to grow and cities to flourish. The challenge was to look for creative ways of sharing GE’s latest water innovation with senior business people and government entities who commission such initiatives.