Water.org and Rosetta Launch 'Steps for Water' Mother's Day Campaign to Raise Awareness of World Water Crisis

PRINCETON, N.J., May 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Water.org and interactive agency Rosetta are joining forces to launch an interactive Mother's Day initiative called 'Steps For Water' to raise awareness for the world water crisis, which largely impacts poor women and children and takes the life of approximately 5,000 children each and every day. Beginning today, anyone interested in making a difference in the lives of women and children that lack access to clean water can connect through an online community, make a donation to Water.org at https://donate.water.org, and participate in the nationwide virtual walk-a-thon that will take place Saturday, May 12 by downloading the Steps For Water app designed to track participation and facilitate the goal of reaching one million virtual steps. The Steps For Water app is available for iPhone; BlackBerry Torch, Curve and Storm; Windows Mobile; as well as android users.

Water.org and Rosetta began working together in late 2011 to build a program that would leverage social media to make a direct impact on the world's water crisis and provide clean water, hope and dignity to women and children around the world. Today's launch of 'Steps For Water' helps build awareness of the world water crisis through online connections and drives participation in support of the cause. With each donation, each online post, each share and each step, participants can bring help to real women and children who suffer daily because they lack access to clean water.

Rosetta created a centralized online hub (www.commonthirst.com) that provides background information on the water crisis, encourages site visitors to participate in the virtual walk-a-thon on May 12th, and enables participants to download the customized app that will track each individual's steps and progress on race day. The app can be downloaded at http://www.commonthirst.com/stepsforwater/. Participants will also be able to visit commonthirst.com to check-in on progress against the 1,000,000 step goal by viewing the step counter, leader board and a gallery of user-submitted pictures.

When the goal of one million collective steps in the walk-a-thon is met, Rosetta will make a donation of $10,000 to Water.org.

To cultivate the shared online community and encourage participants from across the country to interact with each other, Rosetta also created a "Steps For Water" community fan page on Facebook (facebook.com/commonthirst) and will be actively promoting on Twitter using the #stepsforwater and #water hash tags and @water handle.

"We are incredibly excited to partner with Rosetta to create new ways of mobilizing participation in solving the global water crisis," said Water.org CEO and Co-Founder Gary White. "Honoring your mother with Steps For Water is one more way people can make a difference and transform the life of another mother. Because every 21 seconds, a mother loses her child due to an entirely preventable water-related disease. The good news is that there are solutions and it is campaigns like this that give Water.org confidence that we can end this crisis in our lifetime."  

"Our role in Steps For Water was to find a way to leverage today's hyper-connected technology platforms to generate interest and participation in one of the most important social causes of our time," said Gary Scheiner, Rosetta Chief Creative Officer. "Steps For Water isn't just a walk-a-thon and a downloadable app—it's a shared experience that enables people everywhere to connect and walk towards a common goal, to inspire empathy, raise consciousness and take steps towards changing our world."

About Water.org

Water.org is a non-profit organization that has transformed thousands of communities in Africa, South Asia, and Central America by providing access to safe water and sanitation over the past 21 years. Founded by Matt Damon and Gary White, Water.org works with local partners to deliver innovative solutions for long-term success. Its microfinance-based WaterCredit Initiative is pioneering sustainable giving in the sector. Learn more and make a difference at www.water.org.

About Rosetta

Rosetta is a consulting-centered interactive agency engineered to transform marketing for the connected world. Rosetta drives material business impact by translating deep consumer insights into personally relevant brand experiences across touch points and over time. Their differentiated capabilities and structure have enabled them to become one of the market leaders, operating as an independent brand in the Publicis Groupe of global agencies. Rosetta is ranked by Ad Age among the top U.S. digital agencies and was recently named the #1 Agency to Watch in Ad Age's Agency A-List.

Rosetta has deep industry expertise in Healthcare, Consumer Products & Retail, Financial Services, Consumer Technology, B2B and Travel & Hospitality. The combination of a patented approach to market segmentation; technological depth across platforms and devices; world class creative, design and user experience capability; scale and integrated structure; and deep vertical industry expertise have attracted many of the nation's leading brands to Rosetta. The agency's clients include Allergan, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis in Healthcare; Coach, Express, Jos. A. Bank, OfficeMax and Valvoline in the Retail and Consumer Products sector; Citizens and Nationwide in Financial Services; Marriott in Travel and Leisure; Microsoft, Rogers Communications and T-Mobile in Communications, Media and Technology; and MSC Direct, Wirtz Beverage Group and Lincoln Electric in B2B.



Rosetta is headquartered in Princeton, NJ, with additional offices in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago and Toronto. Rosetta recently acquired LEVEL Studios, a leader in combining content, platforms and devices to create engaging total user experiences. The addition of LEVEL Studios, a Rosetta Company, adds west coast presence to Rosetta's footprint with offices in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo and San Jose.



For more information, visit www.rosetta.com.

SOURCE Rosetta