Marketing for a better world

What do you do when a 13-year-old boy or girl in Ghana is familiar with the second name of Arsenals left-winger and does not know that washing your hands is important? You start the Football for Water program.

We are grateful that we have assisted Football For Water with strategy, marketing and communications since 2012. Recently we have started the ‘Captain campaign’. This campaign transforms children of the program into gamechangers whom advise their peers about hygiene. True captains so to say. We introduced SuperDan and SuperJane: “Former professional football players from FC Beat the Germ united and Hygiene United”. Via meaningful communications they virtually engage with the children in the classroom, around the toilet facilities and they even have their own magazine, which is handed out to all the children. Their message: “do you want to become a professional football player? Just like us, and just like the left-winger of Arsenal? `Use your brains and play with your heart”. In other words: show respect to each other, eat well and practice good hygiene. The message aspires children to practice good hygiene and live their dream. The outtake for NGOs, health workers and parents is that an aspiring message works better than something that says ‘wash your hands otherwise you get diarrhea’. Just like in each of us: there is always an inner dream that longs for this dream. There is still a blue ocean for NGOs to tap into these opportunities.