UN report showed Turkey may become water poor by 2030. The problem was vital for both humanity and our brand. So we needed a new positioning and a sustainable strategy for upcoming years. We repositioned our detergent as an enabler of water preservation and our brand as a spokesperson of the water issue thanks to research showing that prerinsing the dishes causes 57 of water to be wasted for every wash. We started a movement: “Water For Tomorrow”. It led significant increase in sales and brand image metrics.

In a category where performance is seen as indispensable, Finish was losing its market position.

It now faced a world where the competitor had made a difference through a local insight-driven, celebrity-studded, localized communication strategy.

Studies have shown that 42% of Turkish women habitually rinse the dishes before placing them in the DW, using approximately 57 liters of water every time. It was a huge waste of water. And

according to the United Nations report, Turkey was at risk of becoming water poor in 2030.

What we need was a communication idea that reveals Turkey's water situation, leads to water preservation, changes the consumer's behavior by influencing them with the superiority of our products and increases the preference rate of the brand.

UN report showed Turkey may become water poor by 2030. It was obvious if there won’t be water, there won’t be water to wash the dishes as well. The problem was vital for both humanity and our brand. But people wasn't aware of the problem even though the danger is near. It was a necessity to raise awareness and make them act responsibly. Meantime, our main competitor was ahead of us in TOM, Brand I Love and market share scores. They were disrupting the category through a local communication strategy, offering a world built on Turkish women's cleaning sensitivities. It was an obligation to change our strategy and find a new value that goes beyond functional superiorities to our brand for both getting ahead of our main competitor and creating a sustainable path of communication.

As we were working on repositioning our brand in that perspective, we came up with data to reshape everything we have: pre rinsing the dishes causes 57 Litres of water to be wasted for every wash. (The daily amount of water spent by pre rinsing in Turkey was over 130 million tons which makes a medium-sized lake) Based on this data, which bounds functional and purposeful communication together, we repositioned our detergent as an enabler of water preservation and our brand as a spokesperson of the water issue.

We started a movement called “Water For Tomorrow” aimed to stop pre rinsing in households, gain market share and leave a future full of water to the next generations. It had been almost impossible to create a behavioral change through functional communication, but our new data-driven purpose strategy was strong enough to strike our target audience to move and change their preferences.

The idea was creating a movement on water preservation, putting everything we do under that movement and communicating through that movement in both conventional and unconventional channels.

To inform people, we had children reach out to their parents in our TV commercials. We teamed up with Nat-Geo for two documentaries. One became part of our education system and the second one made a global hit and will be aired in 12 countries.

We turned dry fountains into messengers of upcoming drought. We used waste bottles for people to picture how much we can save by just stopping pre-rinsing. We turned weather reports into water reports hosted by children.

To inspire people, we brought a lake back, from the dead.

To invigorate them, we started a pledge signed by millions. We created an index that shows water's true value. It’s updated regularly to see whether we can save as a nation.

-6 million households stopped prerinsing.

-25 million tons of water is saved.

-Market share increased by 30 bps.

-Top of Mind score increased by 400 bps.

-Preference score increased by 200 bps.

-Brand for me score increased by 400 bps.

-Shiniest dishes score increased by 300 bps.

-Number of people who pre-rinse their dishes decreased by 16%.

It was a milestone to reposition our brand through water preservation. But we did not just focus on water preservation. We also improved the quality of our products and launched regularly superior products. With every new product, we removed ever more difficult stains.

This purpose driven strategy, both allowed us to get ahead of our main competitor in marketing metrics and opened a whole new field to communicate through.

The strategic approach, which started in Turkey, extended to 19 countries including USA, Germany, Italia. In every country, Finish benefitted from both conventional and unconventional methods. Every country executed the strategy in a native way, changed customer behaviors and saved natural sources. The long term strategy of the "Water For Tomorrow" movement is reaching more countries, not only communicating but mobilizing people all around the world for water preservation and widening the scope of the work with documentaries, shows, projects.