les legumes moches, case study by the azores

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Marketing & CSR

Les Legumes Moches

Farmers put aside 40% of the quantity they produce because of the standards imposed by supermarkets regarding the shape of fruit and vegetables. Intermarche, a French food retailer, launched the campaign “Les Fruits et Legumes Moches” (Inglorious fruit and vegetables) to create awareness for food waste by promoting “ugly” fruit and vegetables. The campaign had a huge success owing to the fact that it used good humor and witty storytelling without being preachy.

The campaign was developed by Marcel, an advertising agency based in Paris. It took place in an Intermarche supermarket located in Provins, 90 km from Paris. On March 21st and 22nd 2014 the “ugly” fruit and vegetables got their own aisle. These misshaped products were sold with a 30% discount. Marketing the campaign was quite intense: everywhere in the store and around it, in local media, in social media and to bloggers.

The entire stock was sold out in two days and supermarket traffic increased by 24%. The media frenzy that followed at national and international level was even more remarkable.

What Intermarche made was a sort of “Mea culpa” by trying to promote the fruit and vegetables that they had refused in the past. It was a perfect CSR fit: a congruence between a social issue and the company’s core business. And it worked. Now they are looking to expand the program to all 1.474 supermarkets. Moreover, 5 of their main competitors have already launched simmilar campaigns.

In this case study you will find an analysis to gain a better understanding of what made this campaign succesful.

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Campaign Synthesis

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1. The problems raised by food waste

2. Intermarche’s approach to CSR

3. Campaign’s objectives

4. Campaign’s strategy

5. Executional elements

6. Results

7. Keys to success

8. Analysis: SWOT and Marketing Mix


Case Study Contents

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It is estimated that over 100 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in EU. That means that each EU citizen wastes in average 200 kg of food every year.

According to the European Commission, every 1 EUR spent on food waste prevention will have provided:

• 265kg food waste prevented, with a value of 535 EUR;

• 9 EUR of municipal waste costs are saved;

• 50 EUR of economic savings linked to environmental costs associated with

GHG emissions and air pollution.

One of the factors recognized by the European Commission that contributes to food waste are the high quality standards for produce sold by retail. That is why creating awareness about food waste should be widely acknowledged and acted upon by supermarkets. For more information on food waste in EU please refer to the European Commission's Impact Assessment (IA) on measures to address food waste.


Food waste in the European Union

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Fact: We throw away 1/3 of all the food we produce. (UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation)

Company profile

Intermarche is a French retailer, part of the groupe “Les Mousquetaires”, 3rd biggest food retailer in France with sales amounting to 37 billion EUR in 2013.

CSR at Intermarche

The company has publicly committed to address 10 areas that they consider the most relevant for their type of business. Reducing food waste is one of these material aspects. Other relevant areas include: Selling products with nutrition labelling, Supporting French SMEs by developing private brands with them, 100% of their products are non-GMO, Sensitising children to sustainable development and 100% of the milk under their own brand “Paturages” comes from pasture lands in France.


Intermarche’s approach to CSR

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Stakeholders are defined as “entities or individuals that can reasonably be expected to be significantly affected by the organization’s activities, products, and services “ (GRIG4 Reporting Guidelines)

The primary stakeholders impacted by this campaign are customers and suppliers.

The customers were offered the possibility to buy cheaper fruit and vegetables that were as safe for their health as the nice-looking ones. The suppliers were finally able to sell the fruit and vegetables with irregular shapes, that otherwise wouldn’t have been accepted by retailers.

A secondary stakeholder impacted is the community , since one of the campaign’s objectives was to create awareness for food waste and thus contribute to reducing it.


CSR Elements: Material Aspects and Stakeholders

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Economic aspect: The direct economic interest was about how turnover and traffic increased during the campaign. In terms of indirect economic interest the company aimed at creating a positive brand image and also at supporting their suppliers by buying products that would otherwise be wasted.

Legal aspect: The European Commission has an aspirational target of reducing edible food waste by 50% until 2020 in EU. Retailers are recognized as being an important potential contributor to this target, taking into account that they are visited by thousands of customers every day.

Ethical aspect: 870 million people go hungry every day, according to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). By taking only this number into consideration, wasting food because of innapropriate practices is a big loss. Only in EU we waste around 100 million tones every year. That means almost 200 kg per capita.

Environmental aspect: Food waste worsens GHG emissions. According to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food wastage across the world (totalling 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually) is the largest source of GHG emissions after China and the USA.


CSR Motives

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To create awareness for food waste by promoting misshaped fruit and vegetables

To provide support for farmers who lose up to 40% of their production due to high standards imposed by retailers for fruit and vegetables

To demonstrate Intermarche’s commitment to acting responsibly and reinforce its CSR strategy

Campaign Objectives

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At the heart of the “Les legumes moches” campaign, Intermarche needed a creative idea that would engage and entertain customers without being preachy.

On one side there was the real-world problem of food waste that was difficult to tackle and on the other side there was Intermarche’s commitment to sustainable development. But other retailers had tried it before. What exactly made this campaign succesful?

It seems that one of the key ingredients was the humorous storytelling. The messages were funny and catchy. The fruit and vegetables became characters and their conversations were centered around the idea that they are very tasty despite their irregular forms. For example, The Ridiculous Potato - was elected Miss Mashed Potato or The Ugly Carrot- in a soup, who cares?

Another succesful ingredient was the intense communication. The Marketing Director of Intermarche recognised that promoting the campaign was intensified to make the message heard as if it were something important the customers needed to know. Billboards showcasing “ugly” fruit and vegetables were placed in-store from floor to ceiling, in the parking lot, on the trolleys, in local publications and on social media platforms.


Campaign Strategy

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Message content: It was aimed at promoting non-calibrated fruit and vegetables that are as tasty as nice-looking fruit and vegetables Promotion: Selling the ugly fruit and vegetables with a 30% discount. Channels to communicate: In store from floor to ceiling, on the trolleys, radio stores, around the store in the parking lot, in local newspapers, on social media platforms and to journalists and bloggers. Activity in the shop: The clients were offered for free soup and juice made of “ugly” fruit and vegetables so they can see they taste good. Performance indicators : Supermarket traffic, sales, mass media coverage and social media engagement. Costs: 3000 EUR for the prints and media promotion.

Executional Elements

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The special aisle showcasing “ugly” fruit and vegetables. Billboards with funny messages were highlighted in the shop so that they were

visible to every customer that entered the shop. 20

“I am ugly, come and taste me”. A temporary stand was put into place where customers could taste juice and soup made of these

famous products. Customers were offered 160 litres of carrot soup and juice obtained from pressing 500 kg of “ugly” oranges.

Comunicare


Intermarché stores were rebranded “inglorious”, with in-store advertising spread from floor to ceiling.

Even at the cash point there were messages showcasing the ugly fruit and vegetables.

100% of the “inglorious” fruit and vegetables were sold (a total of 1.200kg in 2 days)

24% increase in supermarket traffic

300% increase in mentions of Intermarché on social networks during the first week.

21 MILLION people reached by the campaign after one month

1st most shared article in the history of LSA, no. 1 professional French retailer magazine

Prizes: Le Grand Prix ”Stratégies de la publicité” 2014 and ”Non Traditional Grand Prix” at the London International Awards


The Results: A complete success

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Creating awareness for food waste without being preachy

Using good humour and witty storytelling to highlight the message that “ugly” fruit and vegetables were as good as nice-looking ones

Intense communication of the campaign that drew considerable attention on the conversation of food waste

A strong connection to a current problem in terms of sustainable development (food waste)

Discounted products by 30%

The performance could be measured by using quantifiable indicators (turnover, supermarket traffic, media coverage, social media engagement)


Keys to success

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Campaign analysis: SWOT and Marketing Mix

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• Selling a low-cost category of products (30% cheaper)

• Authenticity of messages and photos used for promotion

• Responsible buying and strengthening the collaboration with local suppliers

• Intense marketing to sensitise clients in reducing food waste

• Difficulties to change perception and

buying behaviour • Short range of products, suitable only for

short term campaigns • Selling only seasonal products, not much

product variety

• Enhance the image of responsible

company • Contributing to reducing food waste in the

supply chain • Development of responsible purchasing

and consumption patterns • Increase turnover for fresh fruit and

vegetables • A media frenzy of publicity and free

coverage

• The campaign can be easily imitated by

other retailers • It can be perceived as an action to cover up

from a recent bad buzz concerning Intermarche regarding irresponsible sourcing of fishery products

• Difficulties to anticipate volumes for going mainstream

S

O T Opportunities Threats

Weaknesses Strengths W

Product


Misshaped fruit and vegetables. The products were sold with a 30% discount in comparison with nice-looking fruit and vegetables. This was without decreasing the profit margin since buying these products from suppliers was cheaper than buying standard products. The products were showcased in a special aisle in the store so that it was visible to most clients. Promoting this campaign was quite intense. Messages were displayed everywhere in the store, on billboards, on the trolleys, at the cash points, on the store radio and even in the parking lot. The campaign was also announced in local newspapers, on social media platforms and to journalists and bloggers.

Price

Placement

Promotion

Marketing Mix

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The Azores is a Sustainability and CSR Agency located in Bucharest, Romania.

We believe that companies can be more profitable while limiting their environmental footprint and supporting their communities.

With us, it’s all about SMART CREATIVE CSR. We exist to make our clients more succesful.

www.theazores.ro | Green opportunities that matter

Who we are

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Thank you!


The Azores Sustainability and CSR Services Str. Mendeleev, Nr 17 Sector 1, Bucuresti, Romania Phone: +40 773 716 924 Email: [email protected] www.theazores.ro

Les Legumes Moches - Case Study

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les legumes moches, case study by the azores

Marketing

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uns food

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