To convince people to drink water instead of sugary soda, Brita, a water filtration brand, created a commercial featuring a 35-foot-long city made of 221,314 sugar cubes—the exact amount of sugar a person would consume by drinking a soda a day over a lifetime.

Because part of the impact of the message was seeing the sugar city up close, we created this behind-the-scenes film about the creation of the city, to prove that it wasn't faked or made with computer effects. The film contains interviews with the sugar sculptors who flew from Ireland to Los Angeles to create the sugar city, one cube at a time, over three weeks. It also contains interviews with the director and production crew, who talk about the careful planning as well as technological and logistical hurdles overcome to create a giant city of sugar—but one that was accurate down to the exact sugar cube.

The television spot and sugar buildings event in New York City launched simultaneously, along with online content around the making of the city and a national PR effort. Brita tapped Jessie Tyler Ferguson a health-conscious American television actor (Modern Family), to help spread the message via talk show appearances and social media. The conversation was linked with the hashtag #choosewater.

#choosewater became a nationally trending Twitter topic the week of the launch, earning 31 million+ impressions through PR and social media channels alone. And as a result of the campaign, Brita saw its first share and volume increases in 2.5 years.