CASE STUDY
LifeStraw Case Study
Digital Marketing Campaign Leverages Storytelling & Earned Media
Challenge
LifeStraw is a clean water solutions company committed to redefining the safe drinking water space through technology innovation, product design, and programs that have a measurable impact. LifeStraw provides a variety of safe drinking water solutions around the world - from communities in need to global travelers and backcountry expeditions. The team at LifeStraw wanted to create a series of films to fulfill several goals:
Raise awareness of LifeStraw as a leader in water purification technology
Spotlight key milestones for the “Follow the Liters” program
Connect audiences with their core brand mission and messaging
Solution
Working closely with the LifeStraw team, GLP created a series short-films that embody the spirit of the LifeStraw mission; to provide safe drinking water solutions that also give back and support community development and environmental stewardship globally. In order to better tap into the core of their brand, we used character-driven storytelling to share inspirational stories that parallel the LifeStraw brand values. Through the lens of inspirational character stories, LifeStraw was able to effectively communicate their brand ethos beyond the product, to authentically connect their supporters to the greater impact of the LifeStraw brand and being a conscious consumer.
Details
Filming dates: Select dates between October 2016 and April 2017
Partners: LifeStraw
Distribution: Consumer & trade marketing campaign, Earned media placement
Content deliverables: Video series, full length and social videos
Follow the Liters
Follow the Liters is LifeStraw’s successful ongoing campaign that connects the outdoor industry in North America and Europe to life-saving programs that provide access to safe drinking water. A portion of proceeds from LifeStraw’s retail sales is used to purchase and distribute high-volume LifeStraw Community water purifiers to school children in rural Kenya and India. In just three years, the Follow the Liters program provided sustainable access to safe drinking water to more than 625,000 school children, soon to be 1 million in early 2018.
Empowered: To celebrate this major milestone, GLP Films produced a short-film honoring the women in Kenya that work year-round to make the program possible. The film aptly titled “Empowered” was released on International Women’s Day to celebrate and support the global movement of women empowerment.
Empowered
“Thanks to all the hard work and amazing efforts by GLP, we were able to inspire and empower others through story. We are really impressed by the way GLP has really captured who we are and the DNA that drives us.”
Emotionally-charged and purpose-driven content
A Life Inspired is a series of short films focused on inspirational individuals that exemplify a commitment to conservation, community, exploration and giving back - attributes that define the LifeStraw brand and mission:
A Life Inspired: Give & Take - Follow Bill Yeo, a life-long adventurer and philanthropist who has traded his life of exploring the world's most remote and wild landscapes for the simple life off-the-grid in rural Maine.
A Life Inspired: Mina Guli - Mina Guli is an ambitious and inspiring advocate for water conservation who has challenged herself to run 6 rivers on 6 continents as an out-of-the-box way to bring awareness to the global water crisis.
A Life Inspired: Give & Take
Earned Media Placement and Organic Reach
Results
GLP developed a media plan prioritizing earned media placement as a cost-effective distribution strategy to reach LifeStraw’s target audience. Due to the authentic and emotionally driven storytelling, the content was appealing to media outlets and their audiences. This story-driven approach to content marketing helped GLP secure earned media placements across multiple leading media partner digital channels across the outdoor, sustainability, business, and travel industry sectors. This approach facilitated organic views, reach, and shares since audiences gravitate towards compelling and authentic content and editorial stories more than paid or sponsored advertisements.
In just six months, LifeStraw had 10 major pick-ups from the media on several of their films. Earned media includes: Forbes, Backpacker Magazine, SNEWS, SGB Media, AdventureSports Podcast and more.
We strategically launched Empowered on International Women's Day (March 8th). The film went viral and had over 50,000 video views within 24 hours of the film launching.
To date, LifeStraw films 460,000+ impressions and 3,700 podcast episodes have been downloaded. All achieved with earned media placement.
LifeStraw received the prestigious Halo Gold award as a result of all the incredible work their team is doing to improve water access around the world.