Logo-Waterschap-Zuiderzeeland

How do you engage residents in water management through effective communication and a clever content strategy?

Waterschap Zuiderzeeland

To increase water awareness among residents and involve them in their own role in water management and safety, Waterschap Zuiderzeeland faced a challenge. Additionally, they wanted to establish a long-term connection between the water board and the residents. By using various creative formats and focusing on continuous visibility, the set goals were surpassed. 

  • Increasing awareness and fostering connection 

  • Communicating specialised information to a broad audience 

  • Creative formats for consistent, recurring content and recognition among the target audience: human interest, user-generated, and a hero video format 

Increasing water awareness and creating a communicative organisation

Waterschap Zuiderzeeland aimed to increase water awareness in its operational area. This required making residents more familiar with what the water board exactly does, as well as their own role in water management and safety. The challenge here is that the average resident is not inherently interested in the story of a water board. Additionally, the information the water board wanted to share was quite specialised. 

Furthermore, Waterschap Zuiderzeeland had the ambition to become a more communicative organisation that establishes and maintains relationships with its (existing and new) audience. This content strategy was intended to contribute to that goal.

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Challenge

Making residents of Waterschap Zuiderzeeland more water-conscious and establishing a relationship between them and the water board.

Solution

An effective content strategy incorporating various creative formats.

About Waterschap Zuiderzeeland

Waterschap Zuiderzeeland operates in the field of water management and safety. Located on the bottom of the former Zuiderzee, its area of operation extends across Flevoland and a small part of Friesland and Overijssel. Waterschap Zuiderzeeland ensures clean and sufficient (surface) water. They regulate water levels and ensure the purification of wastewater, so it flows back clean into ditches and canals. Additionally, they are responsible for managing dikes, waterways, pumping stations, and water treatment facilities in this area. 

In essence, they keep the land above (clean) water. Now and in the future, so that all residents can live, work, and recreate safely in the beautiful landscape of Zuiderzeeland. 

Creative formats for effective communication

To achieve the goals of Waterschap Zuiderzeeland, we implemented a long-term content strategy. This strategy included various creative formats that ensured the message would stick and create recognition, ultimately turning the target audience into fans. With a distinctive design that aligned with the water board’s identity, the content, and the audience, all content was connected across channels. 

We also developed the visual tagline "Waterschap Zuiderzeeland, keeping the land above (clean) water," which immediately and clearly communicates what the water board does. 

We ensured continuous visibility with campaign flights, serving all content formats simultaneously in each flight. This allowed the formats to complement and reinforce each other, enhancing the overall results of the flight. By working per flight, we could monitor the content closely and make adjustments as needed. 

We developed the following creative formats: 

  • ‘Even peilen’ (hero format): A high-end production where a presenter and a resident set out to find answers to water-related questions from the target audience. This engaged residents in the importance of the water board. 

  • ‘Waterwerkers’ (text format): Portraits and interviews of real "water heroes" that showcase the work of the water board. 

  • ‘Jouw water, ons water’ (visual format): Authentic content shared by a proud employee. 

  • ‘De Tuin van nr. 27’ (human interest format): Water awareness at a personal level, where residents showcase their gardens and share tips for a climate-friendly garden. 

  • ‘De Waterplaat’ (user-generated content): Followers of the water board share their most beautiful photos on Instagram. 

Additionally, we helped the water board present their "mandatory" content, such as board meeting announcements or project updates, in a more organised manner. We advised using a fixed emoji at the beginning of each social copy for every section, making the different sections immediately recognisable. 

The paid campaign primarily ran on Facebook and Instagram, as the majority of the target audience is represented there. YouTube (organically) was also used for video content. Certain content was organically shared on LinkedIn as well, reaching other stakeholders – a nice bonus. 

Waterschap Zuiderzeeland

Goals achieved with great success

With a solid content marketing strategy and a distinctive and appealing content design that resonates with the water board, the content, and the target audience, we have successfully achieved the goals. 

A much larger percentage of the target audience was reached than expected. By continuously assessing the content in the flights, its performance improved consistently. The unique reach increased with each flight. Since the launch of the first flight, Waterschap Zuiderzeeland witnessed a significant surge in website traffic. This growth continues to increase every month. 

Reach

100%

of the target audience on Facebook and Instagram was reached (364,326 people)

+4.5

million ads displayed

12.88

ads seen per reached person

€1.69

per 1,000 impressions (CPM)

Engagement

1,079

likes on ads

97,511

engagement actions generated

10,523

clicks on ads

€0.25

per click on link (CPC)
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An award-winning project

In 2023, this project won a Grand Prix Content Marketing award - Silver in category Non-Profit.

We couldn't be more proud of this recognition. It's a testament to our intensive collaboration with the client and the right blend of expertise and skills.

More awards that we've won

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