NEW YORK, May 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- DDB New York, in partnership with Central Films North, today announced the launch of a gut-wrenching online film for WATERisLIFE, aptly titled, "The Girl Who Couldn't Cry." The premise of the commercial is simple. Show the unbelievably tough life of a young girl growing up in the slums of India, who, despite her many hardships, never once cries. We see her born into a brothel, sorting trash at a landfill for meagre wages, being forced to marry underage and against her will, and finding out her mother is a prostitute, all without shedding a single tear.

So how does this link back to clean water? With the simple fact that dehydration can prevent you from forming tears. Reminding us that no matter how bad a life situation is, it's made so much worse by the lack of a basic necessity like clean water.

DDB New York's campaign development process for this effort included months of research and planning to make sure that each scenario was based on hardships that children in India's many slums have actually endured, like living on the streets or being subjected to sexual assault.

"Although the film is at times hard to watch, these are real things happening to real children on a daily basis," said Matt Eastwood, Chief Creative Officer of DDB New York. "It's hard to think that on top of these terrible living conditions, these children don't even have basic necessities like clean, accessible water. Imagine not being able to shed a tear when life is at its worst. It's tragic even to consider."

The film was shot by director Rodrigo Garcia Saiz over a two-week period in the slums of India, and shares some of the same locations as the Best Picture Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire.

"As with our previous campaigns, donations from this video will go directly to help those without clean water in India," commented Ken Surritte, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WATERisLIFE. "The hope is that we will be able to provide clean water, proper sanitation and hygiene education to thousands of people as a result of this film."

"The Girl Who Couldn't Cry" marks the third effort for WATERisLIFE since they partnered with DDB New York in early 2012. Each campaign has been more successful than the last, with donations increasing by over 500% since this partnership began.

To donate or learn more about WATERisLIFE, visit www.waterislife.com.

About WATERisLIFE
WATERisLIFE (@waterislife) was founded in March 2009, and is proud of their efforts to dramatically expand comprehensive and sustainable program development, volunteer field staff and in-country partnerships to provide integrated water, sanitation and hygiene solutions to save lives and transform communities - making a direct impact - long term. WATERisLIFE has distributed over 70,000 WATERisLIFE personal straw filters in 36 countries and during emergency/disaster relief initiatives globally. WiL provides in home bucket filter systems, repairs pumps, drills wells, expands and protects water sources, and installs community water systems. WATERisLIFE programs include sanitation training and resources, with hygiene education programs integrated into school curriculums. WATERisLIFE's current programs include villages in Kenya, Ghana, India and Haiti.

About DDB
DDB Worldwide (www.ddb.com) is one of the world's largest and most awarded advertising and marketing networks. In 2012 DDB was named Advertising Network of the Year by Campaign, as well as Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year by Strategy magazine. At the prestigious 2013 Cannes International Festival of Creativity, DDB won 93 Lions, the most ever for the network. In addition, The Gunn Report has listed DDB as one of the Top 3 Global Networks for the last 12 years. The agency's clients include Volkswagen, McDonald's, Unilever, Mars, Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon Mobil, among others.

Founded in 1949, DDB is part of the Omnicom Group (NYSE) and consists of more than 200 offices in over 90 countries with its flagship office in New York, NY.

About Omnicom Group Inc.
Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE-OMC) is a leading global marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, digital and interactive marketing, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

For further information on Omnicom and its brands, please visit www.omnicomgroup.com

Contact
Christie Giera
Christie.giera@ddb.com
212-415-2186

SOURCE DDB New York