2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Objectives & Challenges

For years, Hellmann’s has been championing the Real Food Movement with the belief that “real food is too precious to waste”. In 2020, Hellmann’s objective was to educate young Canadians about food waste and get them to reduce food waste in their own lives.

Food waste is a sustainability issue but most young Canadians don’t see it that way, often ignoring their personal food waste. The challenge was to get young Canadians to engage in and take action against an issue they didn’t want to think about.

Insight & Strategy

In 2020 lockdowns, Animal Crossing: New Horizons became one of the hottest games. Every week, players buy and sell turnips in return for bells, the in-game currency. But if players don’t sell their turnips within the week, they spoil. Spoiled turnips are a big pain point to players. The insight was that young people cared more about the food waste in Animal Crossing than in their own homes.

To remind the target audience that food is too good to be wasted – even virtual food – the brand’s idea was to create Hellmann’s Island, the first ever branded 5-Star Animal Crossing Island. For every spoiled turnip players dropped off, Hellmann’s donated a real meal to a food bank, turning virtual food waste into real food for those in need. The goal for the virtual food drive was to donate 25,000 meals.

Execution
Hellmann’s didn’t just want to drive awareness of food waste – it wanted to inspire Canadians to take action against it. By turning every spoiled turnip into a donation, the brand was able to show the audience that even spoiled food can have value. This conversion turned out to be a big emotional motivator to get Canadians to take action in their own lives.

Hellmann’s Island was successful in getting young Canadians to confront an issue they often ignored but also take action against it. Through recipes shared throughout the activation, the brand was able to provide actionable tips so that the audience could turn their newfound awareness to action. It was the first Animal Crossing campaign that seamlessly brought digital donations into the physical world while creating real world impact – no other Animal Crossing Island has had such a big real-world impact.

Results

The campaign led to 84% of the target saying that the Hellmann’s Island experience motivated them to reduce food waste in their own lives. It also resulted in 66.1M total impressions, 54.8M total reach, 6.8M total engagements and an engagement rate of 46.7% bringing the message about food waste to millions.

In addition, the campaign tracked 5000 direct messages, 1,100 of which arrived in the first ten minutes, from players wanting to participate in our virtual food drive and donate their turnips. Also, 15,000 people mentioned Hellmann’s account and hashtag, thanking the brand for the opportunity to do good in a tough time. Most importantly – the brand surpassed its original goal and ended up donating a total of 100,000 meals.

Credits

Client: Unilever
VP Marketing: Christina Bauer-Plank 
Foods Marketing Director: Gina Kiroff 
Sr. Brand Manager: Kristen Denega
Global Brand Manager: Amanda Gandolpho 
Brand Manager: Ben Graham 

Agency: Ogilvy Canada 
Chief Creative Officer: Brian Murray 
Copywriter: Ian Dunlop 
Art Director: Philippe O'Rourke 
Designer: Clayton Whelan 
Animal Crossing Island Designer: Kim Sison 

Chief Strategy Officer: Tom Kenny 
Sr Strategist: Tanvi Swar

Worldwide Managing Director: Stéphane Orhan 
Worldwide Managing Director: Aviva Groll 
Account Director: Beth Blatch 
Account Executive: Kemal Sehoglu 
Account Coordinator: Rebecca Tummers 
 
Head of In-House Video Production: Eric Thompson 
Animal Crossing Consultant: Helen Androlia 

PR and Influencer Agency: Edelman Canada