ABOUT

Background
Everyone knows Quorn as a meat-free brand, famous for its nuggets and meatballs, but not everyone is aware of the work Quorn does in sustainability and to #StopFoodWaste. It’s part of the brand’s DNA to help everyone make better food choices for them and the planet.
COVID has disrupted the food and hospitality industry. The ever-changing tiers, rules and restrictions have played havoc with our restaurants and pubs, often with little to no notice.
Just before Christmas, the nation was brutally plunged into another last-minute shutdown which devastated a hospitality industry that had just stocked up on thousands of pounds worth of food and drink based on an expected open and busy festive period. Suddenly, pubs and restaurants were left with barrels of beer on the turn, tons of meat languishing in the larder and sackfuls of fresh produce going to waste – something they were despairing over on social media.
Quorn couldn’t stand back and let this happen. But we needed to act fast – and use our muscle as a big brand to support our small business friends.
What did we do? Used our channels to ask people to eat meat. Yep, you heard that right. We asked our followers to avoid stocking up on meat-free Quorn products and instead buy food that was due for the dustbin, even if it meant they’d be buying meat.
Why? Because it was the right thing to do. Afterall, the only thing worse than the resources used in meat production would be the meat going to waste in the end.
#StopFoodWaste was born; a reactive initiative, turned around in 24 hours, that cost nothing, but proved to be one of the brand’s most successful and talked about social campaigns to date.

Creative Idea
Imagine trying to get your client to buy into an earned idea, that promotes the very thing they stand against, that is deliberately designed to NOT drive sales?
Our campaign was unapologetic, defiant and disruptive – to both the Quorn die-hard veggie audience but also to our client.
We stopped promoting Quorn products, on Quorn product channels and switched to a simple message – don’t buy Quorn, instead buy surplus from local pubs and restaurants to #StopFoodWaste.
All proactive Quorn social content was put on hold (recipe content and meat-free product posts now seemed less significant than the bigger issue at hand). And all paid social media and influencer activity in the lead up to Christmas was cancelled.
But a call out alone wasn’t enough. We also handed over our channel to small businesses to promote the surplus food from pubs and restaurants across the nation. Even when that meant the meat-free brand would be encouraging followers to purchase Venison steaks.

Execution
We created a simple but effective social asset and shared across our channels in a bid to mobilise people to do the right thing and buy surplus food from local restaurants and pubs. This wasn’t about fancy design or hopping onto the latest meme – we stripped it back to make the ask the star. After all, this was about inciting action against food waste, not Quorn as a brand.
We were deliberately controversial because we knew the more debate we generated, the more people would see our message. Every dissenting voice helped spread our word – and those on the side of stopping food waste and supporting local businesses inspired much more powerful action than the militant vegan minority.
Pledging support to partners in the hospitality industry, we invited pubs or restaurants to tag us on social media and showcase their food offerings, allowing us to cross-promote their content and drive sales of surplus supplies.
We supported a diverse range of businesses over the week the campaign was live – from excess Sunday roasts, to leftover fillets of fish, to extra tapas to spare sushi.

Results
StopFoodWaste cost nothing to execute but was one of Quorn’s most successful social campaigns to date, reaching over half a million people organically and vastly exceeding engagement rates*. Consumer comments under the posts proved our bold approach had paid off:
“I’ve been a vegetarian for 10+ years and am a proud supporter of Quorn. This just solidifies that for me. A truly conscious statement“
“Wow what an amazing policy and principle! I love Quorn and this has made me love your brand more! Well done Quorn!”
“Food waste is literally the worst thing: environmental, social. Bravo Quorn. My perception of your brand just rocketed.”
The media picked up on the campaign too resulting in earned coverage on Bdaily and Vergemagazine online.

But did it really work?
Oh boy, did it work. #StopFoodWaste, which cost nothing, reached a whopping 35% of UK adults** – a statistic even ad agencies would envy. It also transformed perceptions of Quorn with:
28% more likely to recommend Quorn to friends and family** thanks to this campaign
27% more likely to buy Quorn** as a result of #StopFoodWaste
So, a campaign to get people to eat more meat actually resulted in people eating more Quorn – and one very happy client. *Engagement rates were as follows:
On Instagram: 53,265 reach and 9,663 engagements, resulting in an engagement rate of 18% vs 1.5% client benchmark.
On Facebook: 351,027 reach and 60,347 engagements, resulting in an engagement rate of 17% vs 2.75% client benchmark.
On Twitter: 163,840 impressions and 6,763 engagements, resulting in an engagement rate of 4% vs 2.2% client benchmark.
** results from a post-campaign survey conducted by OnePoll of 1,000 UK adults