Hungry Puffs | 1 empty box for 10 full meals

The API's Tales

M.A.C | Non-profit Organization

24 Thg 12 2020

Hungry Puffs | 1 empty box for 10 full meals

Christmas is the occasion where family members reunite and spend time with each other. It is also at this end-of-year occasion that supplies and food items turn extortionate. For families that could only afford enough food to eat and clothes to wear, the occasion seems to place another financial burden on the family’s heavy shoulders. According to the statistics by Foodbank WA, 1 in every 5 children does not have enough food to eat, and the situation seems to be worsened at Christmas.

Noticing the imminent problem, “Hungry Puffs”, a campaign by Foodbank WA and The Brand Agency, was initiated to ensure the provision of free meals to impoverished children. With just $5 AUD for a cereal box that could ultimately provide 10 free meals, how did they do it?

A CREATIVE SOLUTION

Utilizing black and white as central colors, Hungry Puffs’ packaging is easily distinguishable amongst the colorful cereal lineup, inciting a sense of curiosity in the consumers and enabling them to stop and learn more about the product. It is also the first step in the Purchase Funnel: Awareness model that helps a latecomer like Hungry Puffs to become successful in supermarkets - a place where cereal brands with a variety of colors and a variety of flavors are displayed such as Sultana Bran or Rice Bubbles.

(Source: good-design.org)

Additionally, instead of creating fun central cartoon characters, Hungry Puff only has a boy dressed on a sorrowful face, holding a humongous bowl, adhering to the purpose of the campaign, which is: “putting the hunger issue front and center”. In the product information section, “Hungry Puffs” does not contain an appropriate portion size nor the nutritional values, as they were indicated as 0 in order to represent the children who wake up every morning with no food to eat.

Campaign: Foodbank WA - Hungry Puffs - Hộp rỗng cứu 100.000 trẻ em Tây Úc thoát nạn đói

Like other brands, “Hungry Puffs” also has a taste-test booth in every supermarket. However, instead of the usual taste-test procedures, at Hungry Puffs, customers are able to experience what it feels like to pour the “content” of an empty box into a bowl. This subliminally targets each person’s awareness about the dire situation of starving children in Western Australia, with the disillusioned feeling towards an empty cereal box. It could be said that the creative packaging and the subtle call for sympathy have contributed immensely to the success of the product.

SPREADING | #Hungrypuffs

With just 15,000 AUD for their media campaign, everything, especially the success of the campaign, has to rely on newspapers, social media, influencers, and more. #Hungrypuffs on Twitter has been “retweeted” by many celebrities such as Samantha Jolly, Mark McGowan, West Coast Eagles…

When approaching shows such as One Show, New York Festival, the campaign continues to gain more traction. Appearances on newspapers, websites like AdNews, Mumbrella,.. Has prompted the success of “Hungry Puffs”, as evidenced by their increasing presence in supermarkets. In 2018, Hungry Puffs was only displayed in 42 supermarkets, but in 2019, that number increased to 208 supermarkets nationwide.

CONCLUSION

In short, Hungry Puffs is not only successful media-wise, earning a place in the silver spike list of Spike Asia (Asia Pacific's top award for excellence in creative communications, celebrating the most effective and creative products and campaigns), but they are also successful in meeting the mission statement of the campaign. In just 4 weeks of calling for action in 2019, the campaign has provided 625,770 meals for children and donated over $312,000 to the relief funds,, increasing by 2.4 times compared to 2018.