Manchester City and water tech provider partner Xylem have launched a new cause campaign called ‘Closer Than You Think’ that aims to educate football fans on the risks posed by water complacency.
The campaign, created in tandem by sports agency Lagardère Plus, aims to showcase how all country around the world faces serious and escalating water issues.
The mission behind this initiative is straightforward: stop people from taking water for granted.
The City Group partnership includes tie-ups with Manchester City, Manchester City Women and New York City FC and the initiative is spearheaded by City’s Sergio Agüero who fronts a hero film that aims to drive awareness of the threats posed by the world’s water challenges and how these are getting closer for us all.
The launch activity for the first wave of work, titled ‘The Changing Room’, saw a striking dressing room projection deliver the message in a memorable way direct to City players, club fans and people around the world.
AS group of the club’s star players – including Agüero, David Silva and Ilkay Gündogan – were surprised when they found themselves surrounded by a projection mapped display of dystopian visions of the future.
The tactical approach was to first educate the players that the world’s water challenges are closer than they realise and then for the players to act as influencers and help spread the message.
The idea is that teams within the group will connect Xylem to millions of fans around the world: thus providing a global platform enabling Xylem to communicate its global message and inform more people about issues.
As the initiative evolves additional creative relevant to specific problems and parts of the world are rolled out – such as this video highlighting water challenges in Bangladesh –
https://www.xylem.com/en-us/support/video-library/safe-water-bangalore/?v=nGrgtkycZpY
– called ‘Closer To Home’ which focuses on the home countries and cities of the current Manchester City team, Manchester City Women and New York City FC which runs across both partner’s channels and olayers’ platforms.
Through our partnership with @ManCity, as the club’s official Water Technology Partner, we’re mobilizing a global movement to help us embrace what we call the opportunity of a lifetime – the opportunity to solve water. Learn more: https://t.co/EgVXImC4cv pic.twitter.com/5cgoa4nO9I
— Xylem Inc. (@XylemInc) February 14, 2019
As well as the videos, the microsite enables fans to learn about the serious water challenges faced in the home cities of a range of Man City players through individual information and statistics cards (see https://www.xylem.com/en-uk/about-xylem/partnerships/manchester-city/closer-to-home/).
Comment:
According the club and company, the alliance is based on ‘shared values’ and they claim that the partnership is one of ‘perfect teammates’.
(who doesn’t right?).
But this is an impressive and ambitious global project – one to be admired.
Whilst we are on the subject, our favourite water cause campaign in the sports marketing space is ‘The Marathon Walker’ by Water For Africa from the 2015 Paris Marathon.
Links:
Manchester City FC
https://www.youtube.com/mancity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/manchester-city-football-club
https://www.facebook.com/mancity
https://twitter.com/ManCityWomen
Xylem
https://www.xylem.com/en-uk/about-xylem/partnerships/man-city
https://www.facebook.com/xylemwatermark
https://www.youtube.com/user/XylemIncorporated
Lagardère Plus
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