Sydney Water creates Flushable Guidebook via It’s Friday
Sydney Water has created the ‘Flushable Guidebook’ — a self-help guide on toilet paper for Sydneysiders who flush “everything but the kitchen sink”, via a new campaign from It’s Friday.
The Flushable Guidebook marks the second iteration of Sydney Water’s ‘Toilet Blockers Anonymous’ platform, which first launched last year.
The new campaign tackles the issue head on, providing Sydneysiders with a humorous but educational reminder.
The original work reminded people that only the “three Ps” (“pee, poo and toilet paper”) should be flushed down a toilet. According to Sydney Water, 55% of Sydneysiders still think it’s okay to flush more than the 3Ps, resulting in over 20,000 sewer blockages a year, with a clean-up cost of $27 million annually.
Vince Lagana, chief creative officer at It’s Friday, said this is the main issue — the amount of money Sydney Water has to pay to unblock toilets.
“Behind closed doors, people think they can get away with a lot,” he told Mumbrella. “They don’t necessarily realise that what they’re doing is causing blockages. There’s things like barbie dolls and golf balls, but you’ve also got things like earbuds, wet wipes, tissues. We’ve all been guilty of it.”
The Flushable Guidebook was created in partnership with eco-friendly toilet paper brand Who Gives A Crap. Printed directly onto the toilet paper, each sheet has a reminder of what not to flush down the toilet. The rolls end with a ‘final pledge’ to stop blocking habits for good.
Lagana said the Flushable Guidebook was always on the cards — it is a realisation of It’s Friday’s philosophy of “finding messages that are impossible to ignore”.
“The Flushable Guidebook was part of the original presentation last year,” he said. “It was something we pitched to Sydney Water and decided it would roll out later on in the year.
“So last year we had the big campaign, which everyone saw, but then to be really clever, we wanted to talk to people who are part of the problem.”
The agency engaged several ‘plumber influencers’ to roll out the message, getting directly to the cause. Influencers included Yana Marks — also known as Sydney Plumber Chick — who has nearly 350,000 Tiktok followers and over 12 million likes on the platform.
@sydneyplumberchick ?? What not to flush: Wet wipes, tissues, hair, paper towels, and cotton buds! ? They’re clogging up our pipes and costing Sydney Water $27M every year! Keep it simple – only flush the 3 Ps: pee, poo, and toilet paper. Everything else belongs in the bin. Let’s break the cycle of blockages and flush with pride! ?️? #SydneyWater #ToiletBlockers #3PsOnly #PlumbersPerspective @Sydney Water ♬ original sound – Sydney Plumber Chick
“These plumbers go out there and help people unblock their toilets… So we got them to leave a little cheeky reminder in the guidebooks,” Lagana said.
“That’s where the cleverness comes from, actually using plumbers going to the bathrooms of those who, I think unknowingly, are probably flushing the wrong things.”
In a media release sent on Monday, Sydney Water’s digital marketing market, Tim Barrett, said the campaign needed to grab people’s attention where it matters most — “literally in their bathrooms”.
“This campaign delivers an unforgettable reminder right where behaviour change happens,” he said.
Credits:
Client: Sydney Water
Elise Barker, Head of Brand, Media and Marketing
Tim Barrett, Digital Marketing Manager
Shelley Lewis, Marketing and Events Lead
Chriss Mikhael, Senior Marketing Advisor
Nick Plunkett, Digital Marketing Lead
Creative Agency: It’s Friday
Grant McAloon
Mariah Ferrer
Claudia McInerney
Neil Walshe
Benn Sutton
Photography and Videography: Adam Eden @Eden Studios
Studio Director: Rachel Lounds @Eden Studios
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