Gift of the Ganga.

A Game in Minecraft, that was a painstaking re-creation of the Haridwar bend of the river Ganges. It also reflected plastic pollution that plagues India’s iconic river.

Designed for players to collect plastic from the river across levels of play. Lifebuoy would collect an equivalent amount of plastic from the real Ganges for upcycling into handwashing stations for distribution to schools in the region.

Launched on April 21, 2023 - World Earth Day. Lifebuoy partnered with India's top gamers and Influencers to leverage their fandoms, with boosting on YouTube, Instagram and offline publications for amplification.

Lifebuoy was born more than a hundred years ago to help people prevent infections. Armed with a mission to "make cleanliness commonplace", Lifebuoy placed itself in the service of public health, actively championing hygiene. Today, Lifebuoy is the world's number one-selling hygiene soap brand.

Even though the world has changed dramatically with unimaginable developments in science, the reality is that there continue to be numerous health and hygiene issues that plague humanity.

Brief: Urgent intervention in an area that is fast becoming a critical threat to public health in India - plastic pollution in rivers and its linkage with dangerous bacteria. India’s most iconic and the world’s third-largest river - the Ganga, flows through well-populated regions in India, providing fresh water to millions. However, the river is also choked with plastic, making it a hotbed for illness-causing bacteria.

The objective: Help clean up the Ganga and provide germ protection.

Lifebuoy, the World’s No.1 selling Germ Protection Soap has its 100-year-old purpose steeped in the prevention of infections. The brand has placed itself directly in the service of public health, actively championing hygiene - be it in the form of its ‘Use Any Soap’ campaign during the pandemic, or earlier with the Help-A-Child-Reach-5 programme and more recently with the ‘H is for Handwashing’ movement.

However, newer challenges continue to emerge even in the aftermath of the pandemic, with hygiene fatigue and a resurgence of respiratory infections like the flu.

In recent times, there has been an unexpected source of heightened bacterial growth. Plastics. A consequence of plastic pollution is a growth in germs, especially when plastic pollution is waterborne. In India, the problem is concentrated mainly around rivers that are fast becoming hotbeds of plastic pollution and therefore infection infection-causing germs - affecting nature, marine life and humans alike.

The Lancet - Plastic Pollution and Infectious diseases - Section of extract referenced - 'Although several studies have pointed out the effect of microplastic and neoplastic pollution on global health, few have focused on the effect of microplastics on the proliferation and propagation of infectious diseases and thus on human and livestock health. Plastic debris that holds water can encourage arthropod-borne disease by providing a habitat for some vectors' immature stages and shelter for anthropophilic and medically important species, potentially increasing local vector populations with implications for disease burden.'

TURNING PLASTIC POLLUTION THAT’S BAD INTO GERM PROTECTION THAT’S GOOD.

We created Gift of the Ganga, a unique world in Minecraft, that replicated the famous Haridwar bend of the river Ganges. The game-play was designed in 5 levels, with players needing to collect floating plastic waste from the virtual river.

As much plastic as players collected in-game, Lifebuoy would collect equivalent plastic waste ground, and upcycle it to create handwashing stations for under-served schools.

Transforming plastic waste, which is universally villainised, into a force for good hygiene. Also providing tangible, real-world impact for virtual gaming, online.

Gift of the Ganga was designed as a world-class gaming experience, with high accuracy for features of the real Ganga. Game levels were designed to reflect the impact of cleaning the river of plastic on the waters of the river and fauna as well, while seamlessly integrating the message of hygiene.

We had three challenges:

1. The River Ganga is most sacred to all Hindus. How do we get people to clean up without labelling it as unhygienic and polluted?

2. How do we get Gen Z - who are most passionate about causes - to participate but also help create real impact, beyond the armchair activism they are so well known for?

3. How could we educate people on long-term behaviour change - to not throw plastic waste into the river?

We turned to gamers. Scores of youths in both urban and rural areas spend hours behind the screen playing online games like PUBG, Minecraft and Fortnite. They were knee-deep in experiences that not only engage them but also offer social and emotional rewards.

Our strategy:

MAKE THE GANGA ACCESSIBLE TO GAMERS ALL OVER AND GAMIFY THE EXPERIENCE OF CLEANING UP PLASTIC POLLUTION.

Lifebuoy created a unique world in Minecraft, replicating the Haridwar bend of the river Ganges. The game was designed in 5 levels, and players were instructed to collect floating plastic waste from the virtual river.

As the levels progressed, players could earn cool tools like fishing rods, turtle shells and boats to help them in their tasks.

As the players proceeded to clean the virtual Ganga, they could also receive rewards – the water got visibly cleaner and new fauna was reborn in the virtual river, reinforcing the message of marine conservation.

This activity was kicked off on 21st April on the eve of World Earth Day.

The gameplay was designed on Minecraft (Java Edition) and was amplified on YouTube and Instagram, as well as offline publications carrying the news.

While the activity was India-based, we had players from 14 countries participating in the game to maximise impact.

Within 7 days of Gift of the Ganga going live, astounding results followed and we successfully met our objectives:

Business Objective results:

1. Total game logins: 4,545

2. Average time per player spent in-game: 32 mins 17 seconds. (In an era of ad blockers, ad skipping this is invaluable!)

3. Watch time: 752,000 hours (Almost 86 years)

Marketing Objective Results:

1. Media reach: 77+ Million

2. Impressions: 62.1 Million (YouTube)

3. Views: 5.7 million (YouTube)

4. PR Value: 77.9 Million

5. Positive brand mentions: Increased by a whopping 44 times.

Activity Objective Results:

1. People from across 14 countries joined in to play the game.

2. Plastic items collected in Minecraft: 1.07M weighing 16.8 tonnes (approx)

3. Weight of plastic elements for on-ground collection: 16.8 tonnes (16,823kg).

4. 72 Handwashing stations constructed in 63 schools and counting.

Active participation from players online allowed for sufficient plastic items to be collected in the game. Enough for Lifebuoy to build handwashing stations for 100,000+ children on-ground in the Haridwar region.