The #WorldWaterRun 2021: Rallying a Global Community Together for Water
Working with long-time client, Mina Guli, we were tasked with sharing the idea that when done collectively, incremental steps matter. #WorldWaterRun aimed to rally runners across the world in the name of water, with the ultimate goal of running the circumference of the world. We did that. Eight times over. How? We learned when you foster communities, they show up for you. More below.
Water. We can’t live without it, yet we treat it as if it’s an infinite resource.
When we fill our cups with clean drinking water that flows freely from our faucets, how often do we consider those who have to commute for hours just to get that first sip? We seldom think of the policies, infrastructure and freshwater systems that make that one drop possible.
Next time you take a sip of water from your filled-to-the-brim glass, or take a warm shower after a long day, take a moment to think of those that don’t have that luxury.
It was from this awareness of water scarcity that #WorldWaterRun was born.
Thousands of people - runners, walkers, joggers, and hikers - completed the distance of the world’s circumference eight times. That’s 335,657 KM for one common cause. This feat was made possible through months of careful and sincere community management, as well as content creation that added true value to Mina’s audience. With a strong foundation, we mobilised a mammoth community to take part in World Water Run and make it their own.
Our Global Community of Water Warriors
Individuals
Fostering an inclusive community means celebrating people’s individual merits, whilst also allowing them to feel part of something bigger than themselves. Let’s take a closer look at our water warriors:
There were representatives from a whopping 132 countries, ranging from South Sudan to the Vatican City.
We had runners and walkers as young as four and as old as eighty.
There were participants who did 5km over seven days, and those who did 100km.
A number of runners took part in World Water Run despite injury, disability, or illness. Billie Milholland from Canada crept into our team’s heart when she posted about her daily walks, bringing new meaning to the phrase, ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ Billie reached her target of 500m, then 1.5 km, and eventually 6km on World Water Day. And she did it with the best accessory - her trusted walker!
Everyone’s efforts were applauded with aplomb through round-the-clock community management, ready with praise, encouragement, and any questions people may have had about the event.
Three people were assigned to the (rapidly growing) community of 283,238 individuals, overseen by two campaign managers. Along with an in-house tech wizard and a custom-built onboarding Facebook bot, our team was there to ensure the community felt seen, and that joining World Water Run was as easy as possible.
Partners
Over the past year, we’ve been doing micro-community management with brands and accounts who matter, like UN-Water and WWF. These conversations have resulted in collaborations, invaluable support and partnerships.
We are especially grateful to our partners, Aqua for All, YPO and The Valuing Water Initiative, for collaborating with the Thirst Foundation on this campaign.
Our volunteers
For this campaign, we elected 18 Country Captains from across the world. For countries with a larger sign-up total, like the Philippines, South Africa, and India, we selected two Country Captains.
The following Countries were represented in our Country Captains group:
Seychelles | India | Tanzania | Philippines | South Africa | Uganda | Cameroon | Kenya | Zambia | United Arab Emirates | Namibia | Indonesia
We also had a Country Captain group on Facebook, where we gave the Country Captains priority access to information and exclusive videos from Mina. They also all received a thank you gift following the campaign.
One of our Country Captains, Anita Arendsen from South Africa
Smashing limits
Collectively, we reached and exceeded every goal for the campaign. We had a distance target of 40,075 km, but finished with 335,657 km. We aimed for 50 million impressions, but ended up garnering 294 million. We also grew our newsletter audience to 11,780, which was an increase of 8,514 sign-ups. Overall, we reached a global community of around 283,238 dedicated water warriors!
This is the power of long-term engagement and community building. The success of #WorldWaterRun shows what’s possible when you meaningfully engage with your audience. It speaks volumes for the evocative goal of raising awareness around water scarcity, and how the marriage of message and community can, quite literally, go around the world.
To stay up to date with future campaigns, keep an eye on Mina Guli’s website and social media platforms.
Website | www.minaguli.com
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/MinaGuliWater
Twitter | https://twitter.com/minaguli/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/minaguli/