National Refill Day

City to Sea’s Refill campaign connects thirsty people to thousands of Refill Stations across the UK via a free location-based app. 

National Refill Day is a public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness of the problem of plastic pollution caused by single-use bottles and to show everyone everywhere how easy it is to fill up on the go. In the run-up to National Refill Day, we wanted to drive downloads of the Refill app and educate the public on the power of refilling – stopping plastic pollution at the source.  

Watch the case study film

We challenged people through social, digital and out of home – asking whether they had #GotTheBottle to ditch single-use plastics and refill their water bottles. Our hashtag was trending on UK and Ireland’s Twitter for the entire day, with celebrities and big brands taking part in the conversation.  

We also used a UK-first stunt to really get people talking. In shopping centres in London, Birmingham and Manchester, we reached our on-the-go audience with an interactive billboard. We transformed digital screens into “Hydration Stations” where people could refill their water bottles and free a trapped fish in the process. The screens requested passers-by to use the water fountain in front of the screen as a bottle refill point. When used, the fountain triggered the release of the fish by making the bottle around it disappear. Once free, the fish playfully thanked the user and swam away – actively showing the power that one refill can have on our oceans.  

The results were impressive; 77 million impressions on social media, 91 pieces of media coverage, three million views of the event’s out-of-home advertising, and Refill’s campaign video was viewed more than 90,000 times.  

As a result, the app received 30,000 additional downloads and businesses collectively added 1,500 new Refill stations to the map. 

Accolades

The original idea won Ocean Outdoor’s ‘Ocean For Oceans’ competition.
The campaign won Gold for Consumer Engagement/Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards, and was shortlisted for the Purpose Awards Best Environmental Cause Campaign.