Always on the look out for inspiring news, we have to hand it to San Antonio based company Clear Channel in creating a billboard that offers much more than simply delivering a brand message.
Positioned in Bujama (a small Peruvian village near Lima) the experimental $32000 billboard extracts about 96 litres of clear, drinking water from the humidity in the air.
To put this into context, this equates to enough drinking water for 15 – 18 family villagers every day.
The billboard uses a panel to trap the humidity in the air, comprising of 5 devices that extract water vapour stored in the tanks at the top.
The water then flows down a pipe, to a tap, where the water is made available to anybody that passes.
One resident called it “Water from Heaven” because it comes from the air!
Whilst this is unlikely to solve a global water crisis anytime soon, it does go to show how brands can work hand in hand to create advertisements that go beyond the established one-way communication and actually give something back to a community.
The importance here is creating something of value, that goes beyond simply encouraging people to spend. The irony is that the villagers benefitting from the water are unlikely to have pockets deep enough to spend much on branded goods. The cynical may suggest that this is £32’000 well spent, given the international news report coverage.
Whatever your take, it goes to show that when we put our minds to it, the world of marketing can at least offer back something of genuine, social importance.
