No Child Should Need a Bucket List

NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB New York and WATERisLIFE have launched an emotional campaign titled,  "Kenya Bucket List," where a film crew travelled to Kenya to take a four-year-old Maasai boy named Nkaitole (pronounced Guytolie), who's never been out of his remote African village, on an adventure to do all the things he's always wanted to do before he dies. Why? Because in sub-Saharan Africa where he lives, unsafe drinking water is one of the main causes that prevents one in five children from reaching their fifth birthday.

The Bucket List is a term popularized by the Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson film of the same name. By creating a campaign around this phrase, WATERisLIFE has again used pop culture as an integral part of their marketing communication.  It follows on the heels of last year's successful "Hashtag Killer" campaign, in which they attempted to eliminate the popular #FirstWorldProblems hashtag by traveling to Haiti and filming locals as they read the insensitive tweets back to their original authors.  

The campaign is centered around a deeply emotional and powerful two-minute film, which documents Nkaitole's bucket list from start to finish. In it, the viewer watches him (along with his Uncle Joel) traveling across Kenya, experiencing things like getting his first kiss, seeing the ocean for the first time, playing soccer in the national stadium (his personal favorite), flying in a hot air balloon, learning to ice skate, and trying ice cream. The film compiles all of these amazing experiences to help drive home the message that this little boy might not reach his fifth birthday unless we help him and the other children of sub-Saharan Africa.

"This campaign gives a face to the millions of young African children who will not live to see their fifth birthday," said Matt Eastwood, Chief Creative Officer of DDB New York. "We hope that by sharing this one child's experience, we can help raise enough money to provide Nkaitole and thousands of other children with clean water and the chance at a long and healthy life."

The campaign will be launched with the help of WATERisLIFE's social channels, with messaging that includes the #5YearsToLive hashtag on Twitter, a series of video clips where American children recite their bucket list on Facebook, and a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the campaign through photos and videos on Instagram. More traditional elements include a series of print ads, each of which will highlight individual bucket list experiences, as well as radio, which will roll out at a later date.

The focus of the campaign is to shed light on the hardships of children in underprivileged societies, as well as to provide them with direct help. "Like our previous campaigns, we'll direct donations from this video to help those who actually appear in it," says Kristine Bender, Executive Director of WATERisLIFE. "Nkaitole's village, as well as many other Maasai villages like his, will be able to receive clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene education as a result of this effort."

DDB New York and WATERisLIFE had separate fundraisers to raise money to produce The Bucket List campaign. This installment marks the second campaign for WATERisLIFE since they partnered with DDB New York in early 2012. Each campaign has been more successful than the last, with donations increasing by over 500% since this partnership began.

To donate or learn more about WATERisLIFE, visit www.waterislife.com.

Bucket List Definition

A list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying. It comes from the phrase kick the bucket and was popularized by the movie, The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

About WATERisLIFE

WATERisLIFE was founded in March 2009, and is proud of the efforts over the past four years to dramatically expand program development and funding, volunteer staff and in-country partnerships. We have distributed over 60,000 WiL personal water filters in 36 countries and have distributed filters during emergency/disaster relief initiatives globally. WiL has repaired pumps, drilled wells, provided home filters, protected current water sources, installed water systems, as well as provided school and village WASH education programs. Our volunteer staff has researched and developed three targeted WiL program areas – 334 villages in Kenya, Ghana and Haiti – for clean water, sanitation, and hygiene transformation. And we are just getting started.

About DDB

DDB Worldwide (www.ddb.com) is one of the world's largest and most awarded advertising and marketing networks. In 2012 DDB was named Advertising Network of the Year by Campaign, as well as Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year by Strategy magazine. At the prestigious 2013 Cannes International Festival of Creativity, DDB won 93 Lions, the most ever for the network. In addition, The Gunn Report has listed DDB as one of the Top 3 Global Networks for the last 12 years. The agency's clients include Volkswagen, McDonald's, Unilever, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon Mobil, among others.

Founded in 1949, DDB is part of the Omnicom Group (NYSE) and consists of more than 200 offices in over 90 countries with its flagship office in New York, NY.

About Omnicom Group Inc.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE-OMC) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

For further information on Omnicom and its brands, please visit www.omnicomgroup.com.

Contact
Christie Giera
[email protected]
212-415-2186

Melody Wolff
[email protected]
212-415-2310

Related Link
WATERisLife

Video with caption: "No Child Should Need a Bucket List.  DDB New York and WATERisLIFE show how short life can be in the areas of sub-Saharan Africa where unsafe drinking water is a leading cause of death in children under five years old." Video available at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYf82F3CHYo

SOURCE DDB New York