Building an online movement for water

Over 100 days, Fenton helped ultra marathoner and CEO of Thirst, Mina Guli raise awareness of the global water crisis through social media efforts and global partnership engagements. By implementing a strong social media campaign, Mina acquired more than a quarter of a million fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and gained roughly 13 million impressions on Facebook and Twitter. Fenton successfully helped Mina raise awareness of the global water crisis, advocate for SDG6, and create a global movement.

The Challenge

Mina Guli, ultra marathoner and CEO of Thirst, approached Fenton with a bold plan to raise awareness of the global water crisis by running 100 Marathons in 100 Days. Mina was seeking a digital partner to not only run her social channels but to also create noise around the global water crisis. Fenton delivered a strategic and powerful social media strategy to establish Mina as a leading voice in water conservation. After 62 days and 62 marathons, Mina broke her leg, causing a major shift in Fenton’s strategy. The call to action switched to asking people to run Mina’s marathons and ultimately turned #RunningDry from a moment into a global movement.

Our Approach

Fenton developed a two-pronged approach for this campaign: creating and publishing quality organic content across Mina’s social media handles; and developing and implementing a strategic paid media plan to build a large constituency of supporters for protecting water. Working with Mina’s team on the ground, Fenton produced social media content to reflect the water stories Mina was gathering around the globe. Fenton also leaned heavily into creating valuable partnerships and unique opportunities with the World Bank and United Nations to help link this consumer-facing effort with deep international development roots. Fenton made Mina part of the water conversation and spread the campaign’s key message: Water is #RunningDry and we must ensure #EveryDropCounts.

Successes

Through quality organic content and an aggressive paid campaign, Mina’s social channels acquired more than a quarter of a million fans and followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram over the 100 days. Mina’s channels surpassed the initial target goal of 250,000 followers, and ultimately reached an audience of 256,471. Paid media was introduced in Week 6 of the campaign and allowed Mina’s follower growth to soar. With a modest budget, paid campaigns and organic content allowed Mina’s social channels to gain over 232k followers and fans. Throughout the campaign, Mina’s channels engaged with and received top mentions from UN-Water, World Bank Water, CNBC and importantly her high profile partners Colgate and Reebok. Fenton also engaged with high profile athletes like Maria Sharapova and Michael Phelps. On Facebook and Twitter, Mina gained roughly 13 million impressions. The core of the campaign was the hashtag #RunningDry. Since the launch of the campaign in November 2018, #RunningDry was used nearly 10,000 times across social media.