Summer 2018. There was football. There was a royal wedding. And there was heat. Loads of it. And while we were busy enjoying short term fun in the sun, Thames Water were busying themselves with the longer-term outlook for the 14.6 million customers across their London and Thames Valley network.

It’s a simple sum: more sunshine equals more water usage. Drinking it. Showering in it. Trying to keep gardens with a shade of green in it. And while it’s easy to just use water as normal, Thames Water knew they should start thinking about how to gently educate customers in how using less water now would be a benefit for everyone later on.

So they approached us to work on an exciting new campaign that would encourage customers’ behavioural change in how they use water. We developed a number of routes, but the one that really stood out for them was ‘Be Water Royalty’. With people of all ages being the main campaign focus – and some shameless royal puns in our headlines – we ensured our ‘royals’ promoted ‘little changes’ that could make ‘a right royal difference’, from using washing machines with full loads to having some water in the sink instead of leaving the tap running.

Factual yet fun, the campaign has run across outdoor media, press, social and radio. The messaging pushes the brand to a more ambitious, warm and human space – something that Thames Water also asked us to do – and we are proud to have been part of this campaign.