Yesterday, 23red and City to Sea used the creative power of Ocean’s connected outdoor screens to encourage people to use refill stations and reusable water bottles, rather than buying water in single-use plastic bottles.
The campaign turned three full motion screens in Manchester, Birmingham and London into “Hydration Stations” where people refilled their water bottles, an action to highlight the need to protect our seas from plastic pollution and how we all play a part in that.
Sean Kinmont, Creative Director at 23red, said: “Plastic pollution of our seas and waterways is an urgent problem. By turning Ocean screens into Hydration Stations we directly link the refill of your bottle to the removal of a plastic bottle from the seas. The gamified mechanic of releasing a trapped fish adds to the engagement of interacting with the large screen.”
Jo Morley, Head of Marketing and Campaigns at City to Sea, said; “Refill is a campaign that everyone can get involved with – whether you’re an individual, small business, or international retailer! We know people want to help stop plastic pollution, and the Refill campaign puts the power to do just that in peoples’ hands. If just one in 10 Brits refilled once a week, we’d stop 340 million plastic bottles a year at source. We’re excited that 23red and Ocean are bringing Refill on the road, reaching people on the go and showing them just how easy it is to find free drinking water and make single-use plastic water bottles a thing of the past.”
Prior to each interaction, the screens featured a looped “waiting mode” animated film of a captive fish trapped inside a plastic bottle floating in a polluted ocean. The screens carried a request to passers-by to use the water fountain positioned in front of the screen as a bottle refill point.
When it was used, the fountain triggered the release of the fish by making the bottle trapping it disappear. Once free, the fish thanks the user and swims away.
The fountains were attended by staff with tablets which are connected to the screens via Ocean’s fast wi-fi network. The attendants used a purpose-built app to trigger the on-screen animation, which resets after each refill is complete. In addition, the screen also counts how many plastic bottles have been stopped from reaching our waterways.
Helen Haines, Head of Marketing and Events at Ocean, said: “This is a fun and engaging interactive campaign. It turns selected screens into something hugely practical to communicate an important environmental message. It is a worthy winner of Ocean’s digital creative competition.”
