PHILADELPHIA’S OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY
FOOD WASTE CAMPAIGN
Objective
Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability (OOS) reached out to Octo to create a brand and style guide for Philadelphia’s Food Waste Campaign. The purpose of the campaign was to educate Philadelphia residents about simple practices they could employ to reduce food waste that would have a positive impact on the environment as well as their finances. Octo guided the OOS leadership team through the process of converting research statistics (as well as live focus group insights) regarding food waste into effective marketing messages that would motivate the target audiences to change their habits.
Challenges
The Food Waste Campaign was challenged by the wide variety of households it needed to address and influence. The campaign had to be inclusive across languages, household incomes, age groups and social norms while delivering its educational message. In order to be effective, the branding and messaging also had to be specific and unique to food waste as to not be confused with competing “zero waste” campaigns already underway in Philadelphia.
Methodology
Octo compiled information gathered from the focus groups and the leadership team in conjunction with Octo’s own experiential research on behavior-change campaigns to present branding and campaign options that would effectively speak to such a broad audience. Multiple options were presented and tested to ensure that the brand hit the optimal balance of appealing to the broad demographic while delivering specific messages and tactics on how to reduce food waste.
Results
The OOS leadership team selected “Eat Away at Food Waste” as their campaign slogan. It was determined this slogan effectively communicated individuals’ ability to take small steps that could have a large impact on reducing food waste with both economic and environmental benefits. Octo’s design team created engaging vegetable characters to make the campaign approachable and fun for a wide audience. A complete branding and style guide was delivered to the leadership team. Selected color palettes, typography and design standards creates brand recognition for the campaign and will allow the leadership team to develop assets for the campaign across print and digital media. Octo feels privileged to have contributed to this important work that benefits Philadelphia households and the environment.
