Steamy Stuff as Y&R Moscow Uses Mirrors to Highlight Water Wastage

WPP-owned creative agency, Y&R Moscow, has devised a water-saving campaign for Colgate, which has been brought to life in collaboration with AZIMUT Hotels - one of the biggest international hotel chains in Russia. 

Thanks to its highly innovative approach, this activation has reached an audience of 48 million in less than a month.

The educational campaign makes use of bathroom mirrors across the AZIMUT Hotel chain, revealing educational messages about water usage. The messages appear when the mirrors become steamy, thanks to anti-condensation substance and waterproof marker. They reveal facts around our use of water, one of the earth’s most valuable resources, and how to avoid wasting it.

According to Y&R and Colgate, which have a long-standing relationship, wasting water is one of the major ecological topics facing the world today. According to the PMC report, each of us wastes between 125 – 340 litres of water a day. Nevertheless, people don’t feel personal responsibility for this waste of the earth’s resources. 

To attract attention to this issue the #SaveWaterMirror activation was devised to coincide with ‘World Water Day’ on March 22 – an initiative launched by the UN in 1993 in order to attract attention to the world’s water crisis.

 

The campaign turns hotel mirrors into media. Elena Palchunova, Marketing and PR Manager of AZIMUT Hotels Company points out: “This idea is really impactful; it immediately influences people to change their behaviour without being too condescending. 

“The mirror acts as an instant reminder, with the steam becoming a ‘wasting water’ detector. The activation was so effective and raised such an interest among our guests that we have decided to continue this project in our other hotels across the chain."

 

An accompanying YouTube video, as well as hotel guests’ photos, have spread virally, helping to attract millions of visitors to the ‘Save Water Mirror’ website and thereby educating individuals about how to save water. 

What’s more, bloggers and celebrities have spontaneously joined the cause, helping to spread the message of the #SaveWaterMirror hashtag and the wider communications campaign.

 

In less than one month the #SaveWaterMirror project has reached more than 48 million people both on- and offline. What’s more, during the period of activation, the hotel saw a reduction in the amount of water wasted of 15% per room.