2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

In partnership with the Egyptian Food Bank and over 90 dessert shops in Egypt, we introduced our initiative, calling for people to “GO IN EMPTY HANDED”. Through our initiative, people could go to any of our listed dessert shops and buy dessert in the name of their hosts. Instead of taking the content inside, they would leave with an empty box, “The Sweet Box”. The box contained a card explaining that it was empty because the dessert inside was donated to the less fortunate and asked others to take part in the movement. Moreover, buyers of the sweet box were encouraged to take a photo of the empty box using the hashtag #GoInEmptyHanded. Additionally, the presence of the Sweet Box at Ramadan gatherings intrigued others to ask about the movement.

Creative Execution

Since our initiative was occasion-specific– our activity took place throughout the entire month of Ramadan. On-ground, the biggest player and element of awareness in the movement was the branded empty box – we provided all our partners with collateral to use inside the shops, including flyers & posters. More importantly, we provided stickers to place on the outside of the dessert packaging, branding it ‘the Sweet Box’, and on the inside included a card explaining the dessert would end-up with someone who needed it instead of in the trash & encouraging others to participate. Moreover, the movement also had a very strong social-leg, with the spread of our hashtag, which was used every time someone shared a photo of the ‘sweet box’ to raise awareness. Finally, we created a short piece of content for Facebook that was picked up and reposted by a large number of social influencers & celebrities.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The success of the movement was two-fold: In just a month, we broke a social taboo that allowed us to change people’s waste habits, and because of that we managed to provide the less fortunate with dessert, a necessity that had been long-underplayed. Our movement raised awareness about the waste of dessert in Ramadan, and the key role it plays in the larger scope of food waste in Egypt. Social media was flooded with posts shared by the biggest influencers and celebrities; reaching over 2,800,000 impressions, and garnering 1,311,715 views; with an overall reach of 2.8M. Additionally, media picked up news of the movement and was shared by some of the most-read publications. Overall, the success of our initiative lied in the ability to champion a social cause, make a positive contribution and create effective change, all through the simplest tools – the use of a paper box.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Through “The Sweet Box” we turned the source of the problem into the vehicle of awareness. We hit people right where the cycle of food-waste started – dessert shops. We used the packaging our dessert-shops already had, adding a simple card explaining the mechanics. Every time someone bought one of our ‘sweet boxes’, the box spoke for itself; getting people curious about it and acting as an invite to join the movement. Not only were we turning the box into a tool of persuasion, buying it would simultaneously create more outlets for us to seed our message in the ground.

Creating an awareness campaign asking people to buy less dessert would do no good because of the stigma of going to someone’s empty handed, and so instead we created a movement embracing the taboo! Our objective was to create a social movement that would have a ripple effect. By asking donators to take photos and use the hashtag #GoInEmptyHanded on social media we were aiming to garner support through the power of viral altruism. Moreover, we knew that the majority of Egyptians would be uncomfortable with the idea of going in empty handed and breaking such a social taboo, even if it was a good cause. With that in mind, we decided to tackle this head-on, and focused primarily on a younger demographic who are typically more likely to engage in social-movements and would be encouraged to follow the bold initiative.