Hunger in Australia affects about 2 million people every year, around 1 in 10, half of which are children, yet the issue is largely hidden. Many victims suffer in silence.
Hunger in Australia affects about 2 million people every year, around 1 in 10, half of which are children, yet the issue is largely hidden. Many victims suffer in silence.
Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger relief charity.
It provides a crucial role in society taking donated food from Australia’s food and grocery industry and distributing it to over 2,500 welfare agencies across the country. Last year it provided 28 million meals to Australia’s hungry, 75,000 meals a day, yet its role is untold.
Consumer awareness of its brand is minimal.
Foodbank set us a challenge. Create a disruptive leap in awareness for Foodbank, the role it plays and the wider issue of hunger in Australia.
They also wanted to communicate the huge generosity of the Australian food and grocery industry that last year provided Foodbank with 22 million tonnes of food.
We decided to do something big, something innovative, something visual and engaging. We focused the activity around a day that Foodbank could own. The idea we came up with was actually very simple.
We decided to recreate Australia’s iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge out of food from the different industry partners. The bridge would symbolise the need to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The campaign Bridge the Hunger Divide was born.
We chose October 16, the UN’s World Food Day, to unveil this giant food sculpture as a new icon of Australia. World Food Day kicks off the UN’s Anti-Poverty Week and our campaign would use the whole week as a ‘hook’ to raise awareness of hunger.
The biggest challenge we had initially was how we would fund the project. We asked the charities industry partners to each provide a small amount of funding to make it happen.
22 industry supermarket and brand partners were secured. Each putting competition aside and reaching into their pockets for the good of a greater cause. A huge achievement in itself, turning the campaign concept into a reality.
Red Agency handled the campaign from creative inception right through to the event management. We handled stakeholder engagement, the digital execution, marketing collateral and the media relations.
We hired one of Australia’s top set designers to build and design the bridge to incorporate 22 different products and liaised with all the local authorities to secure permits and permissions. We even opened dialogue with local businesses to support the day.
Engaging influencers was vitally important too. We worked to secure Human Services and Social Inclusion Minister Tanya Plibersek to speak at the event. We also engaged with the United Nations to have their representatives attend and speak as owners of the day.
To add to the news value we commissioned research into attitudes towards hunger in Australia to demonstrate the hidden nature of the problem and address the misperceptions around why it exists.
Each person that ‘liked’ our campaign Facebook page had their profile picture placed as a block in a virtual bridge, this component enables the campaign to live on past World Food Day.
Coverage of the event was phenomenal with four TV news features, over 20 radio interviews, and major state and national newspapers writing about the campaign.
According to the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority the bridge was seen by 54,000 people and we handed out 8,000 flyers throughout the day explaining to people how they can support our campaign.
Our campaign reached a total audience of more than 4.1 million. With a PR value of over $3.2million dollars.
The campaign has been a huge success, it has put hunger firmly on the Australian agenda. Stakeholders, media and partners are more engaged than ever.
And this is just the beginning for the campaign, Foodbank needs to double the amount of food it receives to help it meet increasing demand as it leads the charge in Bridging Australia’s Hunger Divide.
