An estimated $1 billion in food goes to waste in Hennepin County, Minnesota households annually; roughly 97 meals per person.
In 2023, Hennepin County developed a Zero Waste Plan to meet the County’s goal of diverting 90% or more of waste from landfills, and in 2024, they turned to us to launch a behavior change campaign aimed at encouraging residents to waste less food.
While the environmental impacts of wasted food made some people feel bad, guilt was not an effective motivator. What really captured people’s attention was the economic impact of all that wasted food: up to $2,500 each year or more for a four-person family. In short: wasted food is wasted money.
That key insight became the rallying cry for a surround-sound creative campaign called Trash or Cash, to help residents make the behavior change stick.
Objectives
Deliver an attention-grabbing paid media campaign that met or exceeded industry benchmarks (click-through rate of .15-1%; video completion rate of 80%) compelling our audience to watch, learn and act.
Create a microsite where our audience could find resources to help them along their behavior-change journey, driving at least 5K visits to the site and at least 1,500 people to sign up for Fridge Check Friday emails.
Launch during Food Waste Prevention Week with an earned media approach reaching an audience equal to or more than the number of Hennepin County residents (1.26M).
RESEARCH
Primary
Online survey of 250 Hennepin County residents (ages 25-45) who have primary or shared responsibility for household grocery shopping.
Two 90-minute online focus groups, in which creative concepts and messages were shared for reaction.
Secondary
Food is by far the most common material in our trash, according to the National Resources Defense Council.
Each year wasted food produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars in California, Texas and Florida combined, according to ReFED.
STRATEGY
Based on the research, we knew that what really captures people’s attention is how much that wasted food is costing them—and how much more money they could have if they could trade in that wasted food for the cash they originally spent on it.
This insight (“having more money is exciting!”) inspired the game-show themed campaign, Trash or Cash, to educate Hennepin County residents on how they can keep more food out of the trash – and keep more cash in their pockets.
Target Audience
Key Messages
Wasted food is a waste of money
Buy what you eat and eat what you buy
Our strategy included:
Motivate our audience to pay attention and act by hitting them where it counts: their bank accounts.
Empower our audience by providing tips, tricks, tools and reminders as they adopt these new behaviors to prevent food waste.
Connect our launch to a seasonal news hook to give this evergreen topic of food waste some “why now?” urgency.
EXECUTION
To make the simple choice between trash and cash absurdly easy to understand, we produced three 30-second spots for digital display and online video featuring a fictional game show, Trash or Cash, where contestants face challenges designed to help them waste less food AND save money.
“Bulkamania” illustrates how buying in bulk does not actually save you money if you buy more food than you can use and end up throwing it away.
“Contain Your Excitement” encourages viewers to save (and eat!) their leftovers vs. throwing them away.
“Date the Save” educates viewers on the meaning of “best by” dates and offers freezing as one solution for preserving food before it goes bad.
The impact of food waste – and tips for avoiding it – was amplified in a series of social videos featuring well-known local chefs and restauranteurs, who weighed in on how food waste can impact the bottom line, in their restaurants and in their homes.
All this content was featured on a game-show-themed website (trashorcash.org) featuring food waste facts, a savings calculator, food-saving tips, weekly email updates, and more.
Food Waste Prevention Week and Earth Month both land in April, which provided a timely news peg for media outreach. We pitched solution-oriented segments featuring Hennepin County food waste prevention specialist Jenny Kedward.
Our integrated campaign exceeded objectives by focusing on the economic impact of food waste and asking Hennepin County residents a “no-brainer” question: “Would you prefer trash or cash?”
Objective #1
More than 8M impressions served on digital display with an above-average click-through rate (.25% vs. a benchmark of .15%)
More than 2.25M impressions served through online video with an above-average video-completion rate of game-show videos (95.76% vs. a benchmark of 80%)
More than 1.3M impressions served on Facebook with more than 95K clicks, nearly 770K video completions of chef videos; above-average rate (10% vs. a benchmark of 1%)
More than 333K impressions served on Instagram with more than 12K clicks, more than 174K video completions; above-average rate (4% vs. a benchmark of 1%)
Objective #2
More than 5K visitors to microsite
Almost 500 food waste resource downloads and more than 900 video views
Acquired 1,674 Fridge Check Friday subscribers
Almost 80% of subscribers who responded to our survey said they have done things to prevent wasted food at home
More than 60% of subscribers said they are more aware of when they are wasting food at home
Objective #3
Live, in-studio interviews with local Twin Cities CBS and FOX affiliates
Edited package shot and aired by CCX Media
Second FOX affiliate interview with Hennepin County spokesperson and featured chef
Inclusion in special Earth Day section of Minnesota's largest daily newspaper
The campaign reached a potential audience of more than 43M people
