2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

THE WELL OF HOPE

BrandTHE MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM GLOBAL INITIATIVES
Product/ServiceAWARENESS
EntrantGOVERNMENT OF UAE MEDIA OFFICE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryDigital Installations
Idea Creation GOVERNMENT OF UAE MEDIA OFFICE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production MEDIAMONKS Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that millions of people suffer. Access is an issue and families have to walk many kilometres to fetch it, locking them into a cycle of poverty. To educate and enable the population to do something about it, a brand activation was built allowing them to learn, to act, and to make them feel empathy towards the one suffering.

Background

There’s nothing more essential to life on Earth than water. Yet, from Tunis to Cape Town and from rural, sub-Saharan Africa to Asia’s teeming megacities, there’s a global water crisis. People are struggling to access the quantity and quality of water they need. Globally, 844 million people lack access to clean water. Without clean, easily accessible water, families and communities are locked into a cycle poverty for generations as fetching water takes time. Children drop out of school and parents struggle to make a living

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We created the “Well of Hope” an installation fun and straightforward to use. People use the pump and as much water they virtually pump, the MBRGl Initiatives will give to the one in needs. People are aware of water scarcity but unaware of the real issue, fetching the water. We educate people about it and enable them to feel the effort needed to fetch water to create empathy. They also can’t witness the impact of their contribution to the change. We show people how every litter pumped will impact communities, from a small effort to the biggest one. The Well of Hope empowers them to donate their time and energy to give water to the one in need.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The "Well of Hope" campaign strategy was plotted in two stages. Stage one was to start seeding the news of the installation to various media in the MENA region by installing it in Cairo and Dubai at high footfall location. Letting the public use it and inviting the national media to report and broadcast about the “Well of Hope”. Stage two, during Ramadan, we invited brands to participate in a competition. To use the power of their employees to pump, and the power of their brand push a message about water scarcity, out to their own audiences. The 20-day humanitarian competition, the first of its kind in the region, was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai. 70 brands responded and the 21 with the biggest potential were selected.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The pump feels very much like pumping water for real, as on a large display user can see a syncronised water flow filling a bottle as well as water scarcity knowledge, and motivation. For each filled bottle, information about what the water pumped will achieve is displayed. And more significant the amount pumped is, higher is the achievement, from saving a child for a day to an entire village for a month. People felt compelled to continue using the pump as they directly saw what their contribution would enable. Upon completion, each participant could enter their name and see it on a sticker stuck to the bottles they had pumped. Bottles sent for relief do have the participant names on them. It helps MBRGI to humanise their mission by telling the story behind the bottle, so it becomes more than water, but love and compassion as well.

List the results (30% of vote)

Enough water pumped for over 1 Million people. Brands pledged to dig 150 wells, an equivalent to 3 Million USD. 459 Million people reached with a 13k USD media spend. Water scarcity awareness increased by 845% in the Middle East during the campaign. The Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation topped the “Well of Hope” competition by establishing a lifelong endowment to provide clean water to 600,000 beneficiaries annually. The Well of Hope not only educated people about the water crisis but made them experienced how hard it is to fetch water. Made them feel empathy towards the millions suffering about this issue. And made them feel joy and accomplishment by being able to do something about it.

Credits

Name Company Role
Khaled AlShehhi UAE Government Media Office Executive Director Marketing & Communications
Cyril Louis UAE Government Media Office Creative Director
Ahmed Sari UAE Government Media Office Art Director
Suhail Baha UAE Government Media Office Designer
Hamdah Al Bigishi UAE Government Media Office -
Fatma Albannay UAE Government Media Office -
Latifa Almarzooqi UAE Government Media Office -
Nelly Saad Mediamonk Production agency