A Table To End Hunger
The Hunger Project
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
McCann Sydney
Creative Team
Executive Creative Directors Dejan Rasic, Jerker Fagerstrom Art Directors & Copywriters Felix Holfve, Martin Svane, David O'Sullivan
Production Team
Managing Director Adam Lee General Manager Nicole Gardner Group Account Director Sara Shields Strategic Planning Director Roshni Hegerman National Head of Broadcast Colin Tuohy Public Relations Agency DEC PR Agency Partners eBay and Dimmi
Date
January 2017
Background
Because Australia has an abundance of food, many Australians took their next meal for granted - and had little understanding for those who struggle to find their next meal.
The Hunger Project wanted to raise awareness of the issue but on a minuscule budget.
They needed an idea that was compelling enough to convince partners and collaborators to align their interests, resources and budgets to help drive the scale they needed.
Idea
Dining out was made a charitable gesture by using a first world problem to help address a third world problem. In collaboration with some of the country's top restaurants, people were asked to bid on a table reservation in order to put food on others.
The campaign launched on Valentine's Day, the hardest day to secure a restaurant reservation. By using the laws of supply and demand, the idea was to attract the biggest bidders. Over 75 restaurants donated a table, meal and drinks for 2, which they announced via their social channels.
EBay hosted the auctions and donated ad space on their home pages.
Dimmi.com, a leading restaurant booking site, donated space on their website and sent eDM's through their database of 541,286 people, helping connect them with restaurant patrons.
JCDecaux donated two week's worth of OOH digital ad space and Yahoo donated over $10,000 worth of space across their digital network.
The flagship restaurant partnership was with Michelin star-rated Noma, whose ten-week sold-out stint in Australia meant a waiting list of over 28,000 people. Noma alone generated 75% of all media coverage for the campaign and achieved the highest single bid for a table - $5,100.
Results
Awareness was raised of The Hunger Project to unprecedented levels, all without a single dollar in marketing support.
Leading to:
• Over 81,108 meals generated in targeted communities.
• Over 41 elected women in India trained.
• A total reach of just under 36.4M impressions was achieved in just one month (96% higher than benchmark).
• The Hunger Project experienced a 200% increase in monthly sign-ups.
Our Thoughts
Actually, the real proof of the success of this idea is that it was launched in 2016 and repeated in January 2017, this time with restaurants in Singapore and Tokyo donating a table.
It's a win/win/win/win idea. The people who bid for the tables get to dine in the snazzy restaurants; the restaurants themselves get good publicity and win brownie points for generosity; eBay polishes up its brand image and The Hunger Project collects all the money. Which, by the way, they invest in making people self reliant, rather than dependent on first-world handouts.
What is there not to like about this?
The creative renaissance of McCanns extends beyond Melbourne, London and New York, it seems.