Virtual Drought to help real-life problems

Saatchi & Saatchi Frankfurt has partnered with the online game Farmerama by Bigpoint to help UN Water and the Ending Hunger Movement of FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation) call attention to those who suffer from real-life drought problems on World Water Day, which was established in 1993 to help raise awareness about the management of fresh water recourses.

On 22 March, World Water Day, Farmerama experienced its first drought and 45 million online farmers around the world logged in to see dry fields, brown grass and thirsty animals. These farmers were then given the choice to carry on playing or to help end the virtual drought by donating for low-cost pumps, water tanks, tubing and other supplies to help end real-life droughts. Donors could also visit here to help real farmers struggling with other problems due to droughts.

The goal of the first online drought is to communicate the feeling of an unexpected disaster to promote the action of a demographic that does not usually have to deal with water shortage problems and to intensify the importance of water as an essential natural resource.