Saving water together, day by day

BC Government Communications & Public Engagement

Water Conservation Awareness Campaign

Most people in British Columbia barely think about water. On a daily basis we just turn on the tap and get what we need.

And yet, drought has become an ongoing and potentially long-term issue in BC. Case in point, some communities in the province remained in Stage 4 water restrictions from the summer of 2023 through to today. Faced with an ongoing worldwide climate emergency, conserving BC’s water supply has become critical.

That said, most British Columbians live within the rainforests of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island so asking them to save water after enduring months-long rainy seasons can be a challenge.

GCPE wanted to instil a culture of water conservation by making it easy. Our inspiration came from the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen – making each day an opportunity for improvement, even if only 1% at a time.

Our insight was that big change comes from small actions. And, it’s the cumulative effect of many, that makes an even bigger impact.

Our idea was simply called: One small change. One big difference.

Like Kaizen, the campaign suggested simple, daily tweaks to our water-usage culture to improve conservation.

Each message featured a single tip, accessible to every household and demonstrated how that tip could save thousands of litres over a short amount of time.

Importantly, the tip was often graphically repeated in the ads by several other neighbours to prove that when we do these actions together there’s an even greater outcome.

The result was a campaign that introduced everyday ways to help a provincial-wide issue by showing the scale of water savings in a bright and cheerful manner. And our friends at GCPE agreed: “Overall, we felt like it was a really successful campaign that got people talking (or at least stopping to think) about water conservation!”

The quantitative data also agreed:

  • 39m total digital impressions

  • 3.8m video completions (across all platforms)

  • 3277 social media reactions:

    • 99.6% positive (0.04% negative)

  • Compared with 2023:

    • 62% lower cost-per-completed view (average across all platforms)

    • 54% higher video completion rate

    • 41% more web traffic to the landing page during the campaign period

Of course, statistically the truest indicators will be the long-term shifts in how we use and save our water over the coming years.

But starting now, we can all do a bit better, day-by-day.