UNICEF USA Tap project

This campaign film from UNICEF USA is awesome.

It makes the connection brilliantly between a social network (in this case Facebook) and how many people coming together to do small things can have a massive impact. I love it so much.



But I didn't sign up. I got as far as this screen...

Awesome, love the design, I can see that others have done it already, I can see that money is being raised and water is being provided. All good so far, then this one...

At this point I stopped. I thought to myself, do I really want to grant access to another App in Facebook. I very quickly realised that I didn't, so I didn't convert.

I talk about frictionless payment and action all the time in my day job. If we make things difficult we lose response. If we make people think too much in the digital space we don't get as many people as we could have. If we're going to really harness the power of social networks we really need to find a way to make it frictionless.

Disclosure: Yes I am geek, I know that I'm over simplifying the issue and I get that not everyone interacts with Facebook like I do. But it was a timely reminder of how fantastic creative and proposition can be wasted with a clunky response mechanism.

That Charity: water post...

I like Charity: water for a lot of reasons.

One of the reasons is that they break down reasonably complex issues and make them really simple to understand.

Like this, for their September campaign.

Really clearly laying out the problem.

And clearly setting out the campaign goals.

The campaign is supported just as beautifully online. 

Charity: water get a lot of attention from fundraisers in the UK. There's a lot of admiration for how they interact with their supporters and how they present the messages they want to communicate to the public. So much so, that it seems it's becoming a bit of a cliche to mention them. But to be honest, if the quality of work is this good - I really don't care.

Dig the Big Dig

WaterAid have launched the Big Dig with this superb campaign film.

The campaign aims to make sure that by the end of the summer 134,000 people in some of the poorest communities in rural Malawi get access to clean water.

The campaign is really interesting as it will supported by live blogging and Instagram via smartphone from two of WaterAid's staff on the ground in Malawi. We will see the success of the campaign, as it happens, through the eyes of the communities being helped.

And to make things even better, every gift before the 18th September is matched by the government.

You can get involved here.


I love the thinking behind this campaign and wish it all the success in the world.

UNICEF's Tap project is brilliantly simple

I love the UNICEF USA Tap project.

It's a really simple idea. Brilliantly executed.

Tap water is free in all restaurants in the USA. The campaign encourages you to give $1 every time you are given free water.

$1 helps UNICEF provide water for 40 kids.



Simple ideas are so often the best. Take water, give water. Who wouldn't understand that!

If only that $1 was given by SMS!

Water Works; new campaign from WaterAid and it's good!

Ross Bailey sent me the link to the the new WaterAid campaign Water Works.

A simple call to action and proposition "Tell world leaders today: Water Works!"

Governments can do so much more to tackle the global water and sanitation crisis. Taps and toilets save lives and are cheap, simple and effective. And yet hundreds of millions live without these basic human rights, trapped in a life of poverty, disease and wasted opportunity. In April 2012 world leaders are meeting in Washington DC to discuss action on water and sanitation. We need to tell them: Water Works!

It's yet another example of how video can articulate a complex message extremely simply.

I love it. It's a really well put together campaign and I hope it does really well.

Get involved. Sign up and share the message in your social networks.



They've also created this great infographic.