DJ Strouse, of USC’s Hubli Water and Health Project, wrote a whiz-bag summary of Urs Heierli’s “Marketing Safe Water Systems” that I passed along to him the other day. He’s apparently a quicker reader than I, and more focused with his time. All the power to him, I’m only halfway through. In his assessment, DJ highlights these points:
- Central idea: Don’t treat poor people like poor people. They want to be marketed to just like everyone else.
- Recommendation one: Don’t ignore marketing. Use “local leaders, teachers, celebrities, and pop culture to promote a branded product.” Why? Because lifestyle marketing is a proven method of selling products.
- Recommendation two: Understand the local culture. This ties into the marketing concept above; if you’re planning on “selling” your SODIS, BioSand, or other purification system to a population, you had better make a case for why they want it and how it makes their lives easier.
- Conclusion: Understanding a region well enough to introduce a desirable water filter is the next challenge for NGOs working to provide safe and reliable water access
With that being said, the report, or at least as far as I’ve gotten, offers valuable insights and real-world examples to back up these conclusions. It’s a relatively easy read, too. What did you learn from it?
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