Campaign: Slow the Flow, Utah Water Conservation

The heart of the Slow the Flow campaign is to communicate the value of water to each individual—to go beyond the surface of a PSA that says to conserve water, and instead to help viewers feel it emotionally to impact their own water use. Water is something that connects us, that enables our way of life, especially in Utah where water is in short supply. This campaign needed to convey that personal feeling and make the viewer aware of the role water plays in every aspect of their life.

We had the pleasure of working with the Penna Powers agency in bringing this campaign to life. We were working with a limited budget but we still wanted to craft a campaign that stood out visually and represented scenery, people, and lifestyles from across the state of Utah. Some of the best creative decisions are made with constraints, and so we got to work finding ways to achieve this lofty vision on a short timeframe and with limited resources.

Utilizing the budget

It’s important to us to make sure our clients are receiving the most for their money. In this case, water conservation also happens to be a subject that we feel strongly about, so we felt it was our duty to help stretch the budget as far as we could.

The campaign called for a varied cast. For scenes that didn’t require professional acting, we turned to family and friends, opting for candid scenes that feel natural and familiar. For the more technical and emotional scenes, we hired some talented actors who met the challenge head-on.

We decided to work with a very small but nimble crew, including some very talented DPs that were willing to shoot unconventionally. We allocated a good portion of our budget to allow us to rent high-end cinema cameras. Shooting on Arri Mini with rehoused cinema lenses helped us create some stunning imagery. For several outdoor scenes, we shot at first light and last light, which creates warm scenes without harsh shadows to limit the need for extra lighting equipment. And to save on production costs associated with lodging, we slept out under the stars and shared music together around a campfire, allowing us to wake up on location and ready to shoot. The result is footage that looks cinematic, nostalgic, and personal.

Deliverables and results

As part of our commitment to delivering high value for our clients, we made sure to build this campaign around the 30-second anthem video, but to also create six additional unique 15-second spots that weren’t just cutdowns of the full version. The result is a full campaign that breathes more life into each moment we captured, giving each role of water its own opportunity to impact the viewer. The assets we delivered were used in broadcast spots and social media advertising.

The Slow the Flow campaign performed exceptionally well, driving over 7.2 million video impressions according to agency analytics. Digital video and digital display ads performed at double the industry standard click-through rate and maintained a high video completion rate. It drove substantial growth for the client, resulting in a 305% increase in website users. The creative campaign also won a National Gold Addy in 2021.

Full credits

Gold Addy Winner