Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Changing the narrative around the sanitation crisis
Redefining the victim narrative
The Foundation wanted to draw attention to some of the developing communities around the world where structured, pipeline sanitation systems are not a viable, safe or healthy option.
However, there exists a negative ‘people-in-need’ sentiment around some charity comms – resulting in loss of attention and impetus to take action.
The ‘Reinvent the toilet’ campaign turned this on its head – focusing instead on the exciting opportunity to make a positive and beneficial impact in the world for investors, innovators and business leaders.
Leveraging positive emotions to drive real world results
tbt identified entrepreneurs in China, Africa and India (supported by the Gates Foundation), inviting them to showcase their cutting-edge sanitation solutions, and garnering support from their businesses to get behind this movement.
Their stories were told through a series of emotive films. The key film was presented by Bill Gates himself at the RTT event in 2019, reaching an audience of millions worldwide. LinkedIn views of the main film reached 2.5 million in the first week.
As part of this series, we also delivered a series of individual stories and social cut downs for a variety of channels.
