The commodification of water can be discomforting when the consumer is forced to think about it, and World Vision does exactly that in its new “Well Water” campaign.

The spot by KBS Toronto’s Cause Company, the agency’s cause-related marketing division, plays up the tropes from beverage commercials – strength, productivity, vitality, etc. – in promoting a slickly packaged fake product called Well Water, before dramatically undermining it. An image looking upward from a well into daylight with the fake Well Water logo is interrupted by two children, and the spot cuts away to Cape Town, South Africa, and World Vision’s call to donate “real well water.”

[iframe_vimeo video = “159794661”]

KBS also partnered with World Vision to produce a documentary, “The Watercolour Project,” in which actress Meghan Markle leads a trip to Gasabo, Rwanda. The doc debuted at a charity auction at Toronto’s LUMAS Yorkville Gallery earlier this week.

Credits

Well Water

Agency: KBS Toronto
CCO: Matt Hassell
CW: Kate Thorneloe
AD: Jessica Carter
Broadcast Producer (Head of Broadcast): Brenda Surminski
VP Accounts: Marie Magnin
Account Supervisor: Chantelle D’Aoust
Executive Producer, FRANK (Content): Michael Schwartz
Directors: KINOPRAVDA
Producer: Xania Fekete
The Big Picture Company, Executive Producer: Di Davis
Vapor Music: Brendon Quinn
Editor, SCHOOL: Lauren Horn
Post Production online and effects: FORT YORK

The Watercolour Project

Agency: KBS Toronto
CCO: Matt Hassell
AD: Adam Tuck
CW: Darren Marranca
Producer: Nick Hutcheson
Director and Videographer: David Quach
Videographer: Kobi Ntrini
VP, Client Service: Marie Magnin
Account Supervisor: Chantelle D’Aoust
LUMAS gallery

ASC Public Relations
Lauren Wolff Public Relations