Severn Trent taps Gen Z with wild brushing

The campaign aims to encourage sustainable water consumption while positioning Severn Trent as a company engaging younger audiences through culturally relevant experiences

M+C Saatchi Group UK has created Wild Brushing, a campaign for Severn Trent that encourages teenagers to reduce water use while brushing their teeth. The initiative uses festival culture, social media and creator content to promote water-saving habits among 13 to 19-year-olds.

The campaign aims to encourage sustainable water consumption while positioning Severn Trent as a company engaging younger audiences through culturally relevant experiences rather than traditional utility marketing.

Festival-inspired campaign targets Gen Z

At the centre of the campaign are Wild Brushing Kits, which demonstrate that only 20 ml of water is needed to brush teeth without leaving the tap running. Each kit includes a sustainable toothbrush and three small vials of water, packaged in a gorpcore-inspired metal tin designed to encourage sharing across social media.

A limited run of 900 kits will be distributed through youth-focused channels, with the campaign launching at Y Not Festival in Derbyshire. Influencer partnerships on Instagram and TikTok will support the activation, encouraging festivalgoers and campers to adopt the wild brushing habit.

Campaign draws on youth culture

The campaign adopts the gorpcore aesthetic, combining outdoor-inspired fashion with sustainability to create an experience intended to resonate with younger consumers. Lifestyle and fashion photographer Annie Feng produced the campaign imagery, while the kits feature colours developed to appeal to the target audience.

By engaging young people through the platforms and communities they already use, the campaign aims to make water-saving behaviour feel natural rather than instructional.

Agency focuses on behaviour change

Tamsin Morgan, Head of Communications, Severn Trent: "Wild Brushing is built on a simple idea – you don't need to leave the tap running while you brush your teeth. By making small changes today, a generation of young people can help save billions of litres of water and protect a resource we all rely on. As climate change puts increasing pressure on water supplies, we hope that young people across the Midlands will lead the way and show how everyday actions can create lasting change."

Marcus Peffers, Executive Chair, M+C Saatchi Group UK: "Too often, sustainability campaigns assume the message alone will change behaviour. Cultural Power is about giving important messages a place in culture by connecting them to the stories, behaviours and references people already care about. Wild Brushing takes its cues from the worlds young people already want to be part of. By tapping into festival culture, creator content and the gorpcore aesthetic, Severn Trent has shown that environmental messages don't have to feel worthy to be effective."

Creative concept centres on everyday habits

Guy Bradbury, Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi UK: "Our idea began with a simple truth: you don't need a running tap to brush your teeth. The real challenge wasn't proving that - it was getting teenagers to care. So instead of sounding like a water company telling them what to do, we created something they'd genuinely want to own: a festival-ready kit designed to be carried, shared, and shown off. Because when sustainability becomes part of their culture - not another lecture - the message has a chance to last, and become second nature."

Billie Gurr, Tom Lander, Senior Creatives at M+C Saatchi UK: "You've never felt more uncool than trying to figure out the inner workings of a 13 to 19-year-old. So, when Severn Trent asked us to get them to stop wasting water, we knew we had a real task on our hands. This audience is at the edge of culture and allergic to being told what to do. So instead, we made them something they'd actually use, with a punchy piece of language to help curb their behaviour. Wild Brushing is a gorpcore-inspired way to make water saving weirdly cool. We're not just giving them a new way to do it, we're giving them a reason to show it off."

www.stwater.co.uk

www.mcsaatchi.com

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