According to a report by the National Institution of Transforming India, 600 million people go thirsty every day, mostly in the villages. This comes as a small news item and is often read and forgotten.

Hindustan Unilever has a program called 'Start a little Good.'

They teach villagers to save water.

At the same time, in the big cities of India, water is wasted and used in excess.

To shout out this glaring discrepancy, we created a campaign.

Our campaign's iconic imagery of thirsty villagers drinking from a shower, spread like wildfire, followed by shorter shower pledges across India.

Situation

As per the National Institution for Transforming India –600 million people are going thirsty, most of them in the villages of India. On the other hand, people in cities are using water lavishly. Taking long and leisurely showers.

• Brief

The water problem in Indian villages cannot be solved if the people in the big cities, keep wasting water.

The brief was to come up with an original idea to get the city dwellers of India to take part in water conversation.

• Objectives

Through simple math we realised that if each city dweller just shortened their showers, it would go a long way to help the thirsty villages of India.

The objective, therefore, was to create awareness and a campaign that will nudge the conscience of the people in the cities, every time they stood under a shower.

To bring alive the plight of water deprived villages, we made a film by putting a shower cubicle from a city, in a village, and seeing what happens. A villager enters the booth and it seems like he is about to take a shower. But instead, he starts drinking the water.

One by one, various villagers enter the shower cubicle to quench their thirst.

The film ends with saying, half an Indian village can drink water in the time it takes one person in the city to take a shower!

There is an appeal to understand the value of water and shorten your shower.

Insight:

Telling people about the importance of water usually ends up falling on deaf ears.

Unless we make the audience feel the value of water in real human terms, they would not be motivated to conserve it.

Key Message:

A simple act of shortening your shower can quench the thirst of a village.

Target audience:

The targeted audience were city dwellers, who knowingly or unknowingly, used water in excess.

Creation and distribution of assets:

We created a film by placing a shower cubicle in a village and seeing what happens.

To the viewers' surprise villagers started drinking from it, instead of showering.

We released this online and on tv. After the first day, it took a life of its own.

Our job was to create a piece of work that becomes a rallying cry for the thirst of Indian villages.

We launched 'The Shower' online and on television.

The face of the villagers drinking from the shower, became iconic visuals for the thirst of India. The went viral, with people promising to take shorter showers.

Soon after, we introduced the hashtag #shortershowerpledge

A combination of film and digital posts, sharply targeting urban audiences was used.

After that the campaign took a life of its own. City dwellers became the torch bearers and influencers - forwarding, discussing and pledging to use water responsibly.

The campaign is still on air, coupled with on ground work to end this inequality of water.

The single mindedness of the message and the call to action, 'Shorter showers' worked well.

The campaign created more than awareness. It created empathy and pledges to shorten shower time.

In one week, we saved 80,000 litres of water and got Rs. 18,61,500 worth FREE PR.

Schools have started using it as teaching material. (Details in case study.)

Selected for ACT RESPONSIBLE exhibition by THE GOOD REPORT.

Winner of the OLIVE CROWN in India. It is an award given to work that impacts better living,

The film was covered by more than 60 publications across print, digital, radio and regional media.

YouTube: Views over 79 Mn.

The comments on the posts proved that engagement with the work was deep.

Making the city dwellers morally responsible is more than a strategy solve our water crisis.

It is our only hope.