Aqua Carpatica: The Purity Test
Aqua Carpatica, a new premium water brand, needed to challenge established market leaders in Romania. Despite having a superior, nitrate - free product, consumers were unaware of the health risks associated with nitrates in water. Cohn & Jansen JWT was tasked with educating parents about water purity and driving brand preference by making nitrate levels a critical factor in the purchasing decision.
Creative Idea
Distributed physical test strips to let consumers uncover and map invisible water pollutants themselves.
Aqua Carpatica empowered Romanians to become citizen scientists by distributing physical nitrate test strips, turning a hidden health threat into a visible, crowdsourced map that proved the brand's purity while exposing the lack of transparency in the water category.
Turning Nursery Rhymes into a National Purity Law
Hacking the Romanian Childhood
To break through the noise, Cohn & Jansen JWT utilized a "Trojan Horse" strategy in their TV commercials. They took three iconic Romanian nursery rhymes - "The Snail," "The Bridge," and "The Ducks" - and subtly altered the lyrics. By inserting the word "nitrates" into these innocent songs, the agency highlighted the invisible threat to children's health, effectively moving the conversation from "taste" to "safety." This creative choice targeted parents directly, turning a technical chemical issue into an emotional priority.
The Rise of Citizen Science
The campaign's engine was a physical litmus-style test strip that turned pink or purple in the presence of nitrates. Over 600,000 strips were distributed via supermarkets and magazines, sparking a massive crowdsourcing effort. Users tested and uploaded results for 1,600+ tap water sources, 687 wells, and even "Holy Water" from local churches. This data populated a real-time digital map at testulpuritatii.ro, which saw 100,000+ unique visitors in just two months.
From Social Movement to Legislation
The impact extended far beyond brand awareness. Sales of Aqua Carpatica surged by 40%, making it the most engaged FMCG brand in Romania, even surpassing global giants like Coca-Cola. More importantly, the campaign triggered a political shift. Over 70,000 citizens signed a petition for the "Purity Law," demanding that nitrate levels be mandatory on all bottled water labels. This forced an industry-wide shift toward transparency in a country that was, at the time, the highest in the EU for nitrate-contaminated water. Founder Jean Valvis and Creative Directors Andrei Cohn and Alex Negoescu successfully transformed a "greenfield" brand into a market leader in less than five years.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A naturally nitrate - free water source that could withstand any objective purity test.
Category
Water brands focused on vague lifestyle imagery while ignoring the invisible, unregulated presence of harmful nitrates.
Customer
Concerned parents who wanted to ensure their children's safety but lacked the tools to verify water quality.
Culture
A growing distrust in corporate transparency and a rise in citizen - led activism and crowdsourced data.
Company
A naturally nitrate - free water source that could withstand any objective purity test.
Category
Water brands focused on vague lifestyle imagery while ignoring the invisible, unregulated presence of harmful nitrates.
Strategy:
Empower consumers with diagnostic tools to transform an invisible health risk into a visible, crowdsourced demand for transparency.
Customer
Concerned parents who wanted to ensure their children's safety but lacked the tools to verify water quality.
Culture
A growing distrust in corporate transparency and a rise in citizen - led activism and crowdsourced data.
Strategy:
Empower consumers with diagnostic tools to transform an invisible health risk into a visible, crowdsourced demand for transparency.
Results
The campaign achieved a 40% increase in sales, the largest ever recorded for a water brand in Romania. It reached over 1 million Facebook fans, becoming the most engaged FMCG brand in the country, surpassing Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The initiative generated 3.1 million+ unpaid (earned) views and attracted 100,000+ unique visitors to the campaign website in two months. In terms of citizen science, 600,000 physical test strips were distributed, leading to the testing and uploading of results for 1,600+ tap water sources, 687 wells, and 127 rivers/lakes. Politically, over 70,000 people signed a petition for the 'Purity Law' to mandate nitrate labeling. The campaign won a Gold Lion in PR at Cannes, a White Pencil at D&AD Impact, and the Grand Effie Romania.
40%
Increase in sales (record for Romanian water category)
600,000
Physical nitrate test strips distributed
70,000+
Signatures for the 'Purity Law' petition
Strategy Technique
Make the Invisible Visible
Nitrates are odorless and tasteless, making them an invisible danger; the campaign used litmus strips to physically manifest this threat, forcing a conversation about water safety that previously didn't exist.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Conduct an Experiment
By giving consumers physical tools to test their own water, the agency transformed a passive marketing claim into an active, verifiable experiment that built undeniable trust through personal experience.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign masterfully bridges the gap between physical utility and digital crowdsourcing, turning a complex chemical threat into a tangible, participatory social movement.
Transformed a brand message into a national legislative movement and a public health conversation through earned media and citizen activism.
Brilliantly 'hacked' traditional nursery rhymes to insert technical terms like 'nitrates,' making an invisible threat emotionally resonant for parents.
Created a real-time, crowdsourced 'Purity Map' that visualized invisible water contamination across the entire country using user-submitted data.
Developed a simple, low-cost physical tool (the test strip) that empowered consumers to become active participants in the brand's story.
The magic lies in the 'Trojan Horse' approach: using nostalgic audio (nursery rhymes) to deliver a frightening scientific truth, which was then immediately actionable via the physical test strips.
