THE ONEONONE™ THAT WON A SHORTY AWARD
The Context
The global water crisis is urgent—but often feels distant and hard to act on.
charity: water, a global non-profit helmed by Scott Harrison in NYC, tapped Huxly to help. We created an interactive OneOnOne™ inside Instagram DMs that brought donors straight to the heart of the story—inviting them to digitally travel to Zimbabwe, follow real impact stories, and see how their participation could change lives.
By turning passive awareness into personal engagement, the story-driven experience deepened connection, inspired action, and helped charity: water win a Shorty Award—proving that interactivity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a game-changer.
The Challenge:
charity: water faced a challenge many brands know well: attention doesn’t always lead to action.
The global water crisis was known, but it still felt distant. Traditional content wasn’t bridging the emotional or geographical gap—especially in a feed full of distractions.
To drive meaningful engagement and move people to act, what if we created a new kind of storytelling experience—one that felt personal, participatory, and impossible to ignore?
Turning Views Into Action
The Solution:
What if the audience could go beyond the Instagram scroll and step into the story?
We created a OneOnOne™ inside Instagram DMs that shaped up as a storytelling experience. It blended the emotional depth of a documentary with the interactivity of a choose-your-own-adventure. Audiences digitally traveled alongside charity: water’s Creative Director through real communities in Zimbabwe.
✔️ Real-World Anchoring → Users followed real people and real stories from Zimbabwe
✔️ Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Format → Branching paths made the experience feel like a documentary you could navigate—no two journeys were the same
✔️ Built for Emotion + Action → Each interaction invited audiences to participate—not just observe
✔️ Delivered inside DMs → No new platforms. No friction. Just deeply human storytelling in a space audiences already know and trust
✔️ Brand as Companion → The Creative Director served as a trusted guide, bringing warmth and authenticity to the brand voice
By building a story that required participation—not just passive attention—we deepened the emotional connection to both the cause and the brand itself.
A Story You Don’t Just Watch—You Join
The Results
| Metric | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Shorty Gold Award Winner | Recognized for excellence in digital storytelling |
| 8 min avg. session time (46% of users) | Nearly half of users engaged for 8 minutes—unheard of on social media |
| 2.44 sessions averaged per user | People came back again and again |
| 34.5% CTR + 2.23% click conversion | Educational storytelling created connection—and moved people to act. |
| 91% response rate to questions | Double the SMS average. People didn’t skim—they participated |
A New Benchmark for Brand Engagement & Education
What We Did:
Strategy & Story Architecture →
Created an interactive storytelling journey inside Instagram DMs—part documentary, part choose-your-own-adventure—designed to bring audiences closer to the water crisis through active participation.
Conversational Design →
Scripted every flow—including open-ended and multiple-choice questions—to feel intuitive, human, and adaptive. Designed so audiences could explore the story at their own pace, diving deeper where it mattered most. Seamless CTAs were woven throughout, moving the experience naturally from empathy to action.
Creative Direction & Voice →
Collaborated closely with charity: water’s creative team to ensure the tone felt personal, honest, and brand-aligned—creating a consistent voice that deepened trust and connection.
Integrated Media & Narrative →
Blended field photography, video, and real interviews with conversational UX to create an immersive, story-first experience.
Personalization & Data →
Designed the experience to adapt in real time, capturing rich audience insights to inform future strategy.
Launch Support →
Supported charity: water’s creative and marketing teams to develop both organic and paid social strategies.
From Concept to Scroll-Stopping Storytelling
“You have created something so essential.”
“This is all incredibility impactful”
“Motivated to help make a difference. These stories inspire me to do more for charity: water.”
“Just wow. I absolutely love the creativity of this campaign as a way to interact with charity: water’s audience and solicit donation in a new way.”
From The DMs:
What People Actually Said
We worked closely with charity: water’s creative and marketing teams to shape an interactive experience rooted in educational storytelling and meaningful action.
Flexible & Focused →
We adapted quickly to shifting timelines and creative direction while staying true to the brand’s voice and values.
Lean Inputs, Strong Output →
With just a handful of assets, we created a journey that felt full, focused, and emotionally resonant.
Huxly Team To Make It Happen →
Writers, Designers, Data Scientists, Engineers, Marketers, and Sales worked cross-functionally to bring this interactive experience to life.
Where Creative Vision Meets Strategic Execution
Final Thoughts:
More Than a Campaign—A Blueprint for Digital Storytelling
This scroll-stopping OneOnOne™ was story-driven, soul-sticking, and Shorty Award–Winning.
It’s a new model for how brands can rethink storytelling as participatory—building deeper connections and inspiring action, one conversation at a time.