The Naturally Grown Produce Association (NGPO) is an organization dedicated towards eliminating food waste in local New York City communities, specifically within produce. Not only are they driven to eliminate food waste, but also encourage the natural/non-GMO/biodynamic cultivation of produce.
Challenge
NYC alone faces an astonishing 72 billion pounds of food waste each year! That’s about 40% of food that goes uneaten each year. Of all the food being uneaten, 20 billion pounds of fruit and vegetables go uneaten. Although this phenomenon is a sad reality, it was an equally great opportunity to better understand the social-cultural causalities of these behaviors.
Approach
In order to better understand the reasoning for food waste within the produce sector, market research surveys were distributed throughout NYC. Research findings indicated that many produce was being wasted in retailers due to customer perceptions of quality. In other words, if a piece of produce didn’t look perfect, a customer would assume that it wasn’t edible.
A campaign was necessary to build trust, provide knowledge, and destigmatize perceptions of edible produce.
Solution
In partnership with NYC, a brand campaign was created for NGPO showcasing the healthy and edible benefits of eating ripened produce. The brand creative strategy was fundamentally rooted in showing that fruit can still be healthy and edible despite not appearing so from the outside. Strategic and playful copywriting was implemented to establish trust with the target audience.