Iris Worldwide has revealed its new campaign in partnership with BRITA against single-use plastic bottled water marketing.
A must-have for athletes…or the most natural beverage on the planet – Big Water marketing has turned the plastic containers into some sort of luxury item in recent years.
Combatting this, Iris worked with Retail Economics, independent consumer trends researcher to understand the true impact of Big Water marketing. They discovered that 413 million MORE branded plastic bottles will be sold by 2026 because of marketing tricks and tactics.
Armed with the facts, Iris adopted a cheekier TOV on social and collaborated with influencers to go after Big Water including such as the likes of Wimbledon. With comedian Josh Berry, Iris created a campaign to highlight the ludicrousness of the tournament being sponsored by big water:
Taking the cheeky TOV even further, Iris secured the hero nobody knew they needed: James Buckley. He was recruited to play himself, in a casting for a role in a water bottled advert. And by the end, has simply had enough of their lies and tricks. The truth-shedding films are a big step in the right direction for BRITA and will be shared across its social channels – as well as across radio.
To learn more, we spoke to Michael Boszko, Associate Creative Director at Iris.
What was the brief?
BRITA’s challenge was getting more bottled water drinkers to consider BRITA. With a relatively small marketing budget, we had to be bold.
The brief was simple: Take on Big Water.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
The team quickly questioned the role of Marketing, and the ludicrousness of taking a product which is so damaging to the environment and making it desirable. This reminded us of (now banned) cigarette advertising.
Advertising cigarettes was once the norm. Celebrity names, sex appeal, glamour. Even recommended by your doctor. Once the damage to health became clear, these ads disappeared. So we asked, is the marketing of single-use water bottles so different?
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
When we were researching, we discovered there was a lack of hard facts behind the concept, so whilst we knew there was a correlation, we wanted the numbers. Proof to drive change. So we partnered with Retail Economics who produced a whitepaper, and provided the hero stat for the campaign:
413 more plastic water bottles will be sold by 2026 due to marketing campaigns.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge we faced through the entirety of the campaign was capturing industry tropes used in single use plastic bottled water campaigns, and highlighting the truth, without crossing the line.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
James Buckley.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
We want people to question everything they think about plastic bottled water and to take a step back and think ‘are you kidding?’ every time they see more marketing of it.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
Three months.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
The obvious dream would be for all single-use bottled water drinkers to switch to BRITA filtered bottles if they don’t like the taste of tap water. In the short term, getting people to associate BRITA as a disruptive-for-good brand is where we want to be. And where we’re heading.
Credit list for the work?
Creative: Michael Boszko, Javier Eraso, Hector Ojea Pereiro, Isabel Albarran, Ross Taylor
PR and partnerships: Rachel Byles, Lily Rutherford, Teresa Luparini, Katie Billett
Strategy: Rio Cosgrove
Social: Will Chaplin, Callum Ritchie
Design: Deanna Bains
Iris CYLNDR production: Lauren Tyson, Jake Parker, Ana Gonzalvo, Juan Biaiñ, Chaz Callingham-Woods, Dominic Phipps, Gary Turnbull, Karl Theibald
Business affairs: Katie Singer
