Charity: Water is a not for profit organisation which helps to provide safe and clean drinking water to people in developing countries.
Founded in 2006, by a club promoter named Scott Harrison. Over the past 11 years Charity: Water has helped to fund over 19,000 projects in 24 countries, benefiting over 6.1 million people.
Their mission is simple. They want to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Lesson #1 They create an emotional connection
Charity: Water take something so simple, and something that we all take for granted and they heighten our emotions. Their story holds the ability to make you think just how lucky we are to have clean and safe in our lives. They use real life stories, real life people and their struggles of having to walk for hours to collect contaminated water and children and babies drinking it. They tell of the horror stories of sick individuals and death as a result of contamination.
“My children used to get sick all the time. With clean water I am hoping the diseases won't come back.” -Sanjita pic.twitter.com/huxGi61ugU
— charity: water (@charitywater) July 8, 2017
Charity: Water touches the heart of their supporters. They tie you into their story – and may even cause a few tears.
Lesson #2 A simple brand book
Charity: Water love their brand and as a result, they ask people to treat it with care. They know that a strong brand will set them apart from other and it will amplify their message to get it further.
For guidelines on everything from logos to language, they have developed a brand book. They say how they love the simplicity and that through their tone and language they make their message accessible to all.
Lesson #3 They make us care
Similar to creating an emotional connection, Charity: Water makes us care about their cause.
Charity: Water make it simple – they state clearly why we should care. Clean drinking water is a basic need when it comes to life. In their 2016, 10-year anniversary video they explain how dirty water is responsible for more deaths in the world than all forms of violence. It’s a crisis, and over 633 million people have no access to clean drinking water – that’s more than twice the population than the United States.
Lesson #4 They are a superhero, but they show the power of people is much greater
They may be organising the development of clean water to millions of people, but Charity: Water know they can’t do it all on their own. They celebrate their supporters by sharing their unique and individual stories of how they became involved and the money they have raised through their blog and social channels.
From kids selling lemonade to people donating their birthdays rather than receiving gifts, Charity: Water celebrates these individuals regardless whether they donate $5 or $5,000. Each supporter is valued equally.
Ben's Bar is serving up summer lemonade for his neighbors and clean water for families in need. You're amazing, Ben! https://t.co/WUXXScTbuu pic.twitter.com/6twu1IgY7e
— charity: water (@charitywater) June 24, 2017
A good brand story, illustrates their voice, conveys they stand for and enforces why it matters to the lives of the audience that has its own stories. Charity: Water does this and more.
The list is never-ending on the lessons we can learn from the story of Charity: Water.
Would you like to learn more about brand storytelling and the power it can hold? If that’s a yes, you can get in touch here.
