World River Run – A Global Collaboration with WFF for Freshwater
Time: April - June 2021
Client: Thirst Foundation
Project: Global Activation Campaign
Impact: Collaborative campaign with WWF with over 17,000 participants from 119 countries, and amplified reach through WWF ambassadors including Eliud Kipchoge.
In June 2021, we launched the World River Run, a global virtual activation held over Global Running Day to celebrate rivers and raise awareness of the importance of rivers as fresh water sources.
The campaign was born from the success of #WorldWaterRun (March 2021), which had exceeded all targets and generated extraordinary engagement. On the back of those results, Mina Guli’s Thirst Foundation asked me to return as Campaign Director to deliver a second global run, this time in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
WWF recognised that the mechanic, a virtual run powered by personalised race numbers and certificates, was an innovative way to engage audiences. It created pride, fun, and social sharing, without asking for donations. Instead, participation itself became the call to action, raising awareness in a fresh, non-intrusive, and altruistic way. It ticked all the boxes for WWF to join, bringing in their ambassadors, including Eliud Kipchoge, the world marathon record holder.
MY ROLE
As Campaign Director, I was responsible for:
Campaign Strategy & Narrative: Designing the overall campaign approach and ensuring alignment with both Mina’s voice and WWF’s brand standards.
Creative Direction: Overseeing the design of visual identity including race numbers, certificates, and branding assets.
Digital Infrastructure: Building and managing the landing page, and designing and writing all campaign emails
Content & Social Media: Writing copy and doing the creatives for all posts across and managing the publishing schedule. The community management was overseen by Mina’s agency.
Paid Media: Running the paid advertising strategy, ensuring efficient use of budget and targeted reach.
Smart Automation: Using my custom-built tool, The Numberator, to provide personalised race numbers and certificates at scale, creating a shareable experience that eliminated manual admin.
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVE
To expand Mina’s global community of runners and water advocates by mobilising them around a shared challenge for World Water Day. At the same time, deliver measurable value to key partners (WWF and Aqua for All) and demonstrate how virtual run campaigns can serve as repeatable, high-impact activations that benefit both partners and community.
CAMPAIGN RESULT
The feedback was incredible, with sign-ups exceeding expectations. Thousands of user-generated photos and stories poured in, from kids, schools, and families to seasoned runners. Entire schools and running clubs took part, which prompted us to design custom certificates for them, while some clubs even printed their own t-shirts.
The involvement of Eliud Kipchoge, the marathon world record holder, added exceptional brand value and credibility. Alongside other running influencers such as Ben Pol and Ryan Sandes, their participation extended the campaign’s reach and resonance well beyond traditional conservation and running communities.
Results
17,120 sign-ups (goal was 15,000)
Global Participation: Participants from 119 countries (incl South Korea, Panama, Antigua and Barbuda, Montenegro, Somalia, Guam, Colombia, Slovakia, Bhutan. Morocco, Zambia etc.)
27.59 million impressions across digital platforms
US$ 635,700 estimated media value (Brand24)
176,481 unique kilometres collectively run
The Numberator: Smart Personalisation at Scale
To seamlessly run large-scale virtual events, I developed an automation tool called The Numberator, which I use for campaigns like this. It eliminates hundreds of hours of manual admin while giving participants a personalised, shareable experience that drives organic reach and excitement.
For #WorldRiverRun, The Numberator:
Instantly emailed participants their personalised race numbers upon sign-up
Sent personalised certificates with an individualised thank-you note
Photos shared by runners on social media
Explore the #WorldRiverRun hashtag on instagram and to see all the wonderful posts and videos made by particiapnts over the years of running this event.
Newsletters
As part of my role, I wrote and designed all campaign emails, from announcement to reminders and wrap-up, ensuring they were visually aligned with the brand identity, optimised for high open rates, and crafted to drive participation and sharing.
Campaign Assets
We developed a dedicated visual identity for the World River Run, designed to live beyond a single activation and evolve into an annual, recognisable brand. Core assets included customised race numbers, digital certificates, and branded social media templates that participants could proudly share online. Together, these elements created a cohesive look and feel that not only unified the campaign across platforms but also reinforced its potential as a repeatable, scalable event for years to come.
