Save Water, Pee in the Shower

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Why, it’s not such a repulsive idea really! After all, the toilet and shower drain to the exact same place, and if you’re healthy your urine is sterile. Remember that just one less flush per day could save you in excess of 1,000 gallons of water per year!

Environmental group SOS Mata Atlântica is advancing the idea among Brazilians with a charming PeeSA spot that features people big and small, young and old, human, alien and animal, doing their business while doing their personal hygiene routine. Cute! (But please, don’t follow this up with a yellow-mellow, brown-down public service campaign!)

Via discoblog on discovermagazine.com

Bandai Bottled Water Fun Enhancer

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Now that we’re soooo bored with the all clever branding and unusual bottles, leave it to Japanese toy company Bandai to freshen bottled water consumption with their new “magic pet” micro-toys, little sea creature gizmos that swirl and swim about inside your bottled water, producing several minutes of pure entertainment. Choose the Jellyfish, Squid or Octopus. And importantly, be sure to sip rather than gulp lest you choke on your $6 investment!

Following, some screen shots from their website, but if you visit the site yourself, be sure to catch the mesmerizing movie! (As far as I can tell, these are available only in Japan.)

The Benefits of Big: Giant Campaign from RWE

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How can you change your negative image if you’re a often-hated, ginormous European energy company whose sheer size and power terrifies the regular folks? Why not channel that feel-good-about-monsters character, Shrek?

A colossal tidal power project

A colossal tidal power project

RWE group’s new European ad campaign does just that, and like those roller-skating Evian babies, you can’t help but fall for this Shrek-ish lumbering ogre regardless of how you feel about the company or its operations. The ugly but lovable “energy giant” crosses the idyllic countryside, making energy happen in unusual but environmentally-sensitive ways with the tagline, “It can be so easy to make big things happen. When you’re a giant.”

(Don’t miss the ending, where our friendly beast lights up the city with a new approach to hydropower!)
The charming song in the clip is “I Love the Mountains” by Houaida, an up-and-coming German star. (You can download the song mp3 via the RWE website.)

A Moving Tribute from Brazil

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Here’s an advert from March 2009 spotlighting World Water Day that likely to make you feel seasick! From Tribuna de Minas, a newspaper in Juiz de Fora, Brazil by ad agency Trópico Propaganda. (Click to view it full size for maximum headaches or tipsiness!)

Novelty aside, there’s actually something to be learned from these types of visual illusions. This article from the May 2008 Scientific American, The Neuroscience of Illusion, discusses the scientific value of visual illusions and shows how tricking the eye can reveal the inner workings of the brain.

Evian, The New Fountain of Youth

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Tough times in the bottled water business call for tough tactics–like selling the age-old quest for eternal youth. Evian’s new ad campaign tells us to “live young (TM)!” Who knew that the mythical Fountain of Youth, that legendary spring that restores youth to those who drink from it, was right there on my grocer’s shelf all along! I thought Evian water was expensive, but compared to botox, plastic surgery or Satan-soul-selling, it’s a live-young (TM) bargain!

This new fountain of youth reveals itself in the form of jaunty hip-hoppin’ roller-skating babies. I still refuse to buy the stuff but let’s be honest, these wee-ones on wheels are irresistably, adorably funny.

 

Where’s the breathless press release, you ask? Why, it’s here, informing us that stunt-skating tots are “the ultimate expression of Evian brand values, including origin, health and youth.”

And it gets better!

“To Evian, youth is not a matter of age, but a mindset – a youthful mindset that is optimistic, believes that everything is possible, and is curious and eager to discover the world – much like that of a child,” stated Jerome Goure, vice president of marketing for Danone Waters of America, the exclusive importer and marketer of Evian in North America.  “The babies in this campaign exemplify this attitude and the celebration of adding life to your years.”

Wine Cheaper than Water? Crikey!

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Stock-up time! We heard it through the grapevine… there’s a wine glut in Australia to the point that wine prices have been driven lower than some bottled waters. Where are we headed here? Maybe the 21st-century religious miracle will be changing wine into water! (Last fall, we posted here about cheaper-than-water alcohol in the UK.) According to www.news.com.au,

Major wine retailer Dan Murphy’s is currently selling cleanskins for $1.99 a bottle – cheaper than some bottled water – due to the oversupply crisis that has led to some vineyard owners leaving grapes to wither on the vine.
The unprecedented meltdown in the Oz wine biz has also precipitated a fire-sale of unprofitable vineyards. Australia’s biggest winemaker, Foster’s, is selling 31 of its vineyards across the country. Winemakers pow-wowed at an emergency meeting and concluded that 20% of vines needed to be phased out in the next three years to correct imbalance. 
Strong export sales led to over-optimistic outlooks for Australia’s wine industry and a doubling of vine-producing areas over the past decade. But forecasts of more than $3 billion in export sales by next year have been dashed by overseas competition, an excess of cheaper wines and the global financial crisis.
 

L’Desh Fresh: Gag Me, Really!

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We’ve posted before about the pluses of “Going Gross” to grab attention with yuck appeal, and here’s a “fresh’ new one right from my Kansas City backyard. This campaign from Water Partners International, based in Kansas City, aims to get clean water flowing to the neediest by convincing you to loosen the nauseating grip on your wallet.

L’Desh Fresh is splashed onto our radar with a slick flash website, just like the pricey premium brands… but we can see there’s something unclear about it’s appeal. (I must admit it took me several passes to “get it” — Bang-L’-Desh…get it?)

And direct from the planet Ikea comes The L’Desh Fresh video, where our spokesmodel manages to take a swig of “the world’s water” while maintaining her composed on-camera professional demeanor.

We imagine her multiple cell phone calls after the shoot: “Well sure I’m, like, DYING to be a model-slash-actress, but, GAG ME, really! I mean I am SO NOT JOKING, I’m honestly gagging RIGHT NOW! Did Heidi Klum have to do this? I don’t THINK so!”

So here are a load of related links: Water Partners International on Facebook, L’Desh Fresh on Wikipedia, An article on L’Desh Fresh from KC alt weekly The Pitch, L’Desh Fresh on MySpace, Water Partners International on Twitter, and Kansas City Ad Agency Sullivan, Higdon & Sink. Whew, that should ’bout cover the social mediasphere.

Or just skip all that and pony up a donation here, while you gag and ponder the millions worldwide who actually drink similar stuff every day with a straight face.

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Sanyo Shows Sea Shots for the Seashore

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If you’re pondering the wonders of the deep from a ground-level vantage, you’re missing the real action, or so we are reminded by this crazy-clever Sanyo campaign for an underwater camera to “see what’s under the sea.” (Created by Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand via adsoftheworld.com)

Most Dangerous Species in the Mediterranean

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A public service campaign that will delight you into doing the right thing. From the website of Klas Ernflo (cool name!) it is a “Campaign for the Government of Catalunya to keep the Mediterranean sea clean.”

Look closer and read the text in this larger version.

(I saw this on Presurfer, who saw it on Dark Roasted Blend. Thanks for sharing!)

I’m Getting You a Gift for Drinking Water Week!

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In Suburbia we’re trained to mark every “occasion,” no matter how small or obscure, with a thoughtful little gift. Or at the very least, a quality card from the Hallmark Store. So, I’ve pondered long and hard about what to get you for Drinking Water Week, and then I saw this…perfect!

These awesome water glasses from Modcloth.com feature an authentic nutrition label…0 calories, 0% of your daily recommended vitamins and minerals, and just a few carbs! But wait… Omygosh, they are out of stock right now! I am so embarrassed and sorry, I know you must be so disappointed!

But no matter, I have another idea. I’m going to get you these clever “half empty, half full” water glasses… one for optimists and another for pessimists, like you! The artist Alex Ostrowski says his design includes “a glass for optimists, which is permanently half-full with clear caster resin, and one for pessimists, permanently half-empty with a chamber of air.”

Oh no! So, here I am, looking for the “order now” link, and find that this is a design concept, I can’t actually buy them! And it would have been perfect for you, my apologies, that’s strike two!

Never mind, I know just the thing for your Drinking Water Week gift. I’ll bet you don’t have a Faucet Light! Look at this freaky thing from BaronBob.com, don’t you love it? And the colors change from blue to red as the water gets hotter! Wait, what’s this? Installation? Oh, no, I KNOW you’re a total klutz with a wrench. There’s no way I can get you a gift you have to install yourself, just think of the stress I’d cause you!

Now I’m really out of ideas. I’m so relieved that “it’s the thought that counts,” because although you don’t have a gift in hand, as you can see I’ve thought about your gift quite a bit.

Happy Drinking Water Week–your card should be arriving any day now!

UPDATE: Success! Wouldn’t you know that Aquadoc over at WaterWired would know JUST what to do… so I’ve thoughtfully made a donation in your name! (You’ll still get the card, don’t worry!)