Eco Seconds by Steven Ward

Alissa Phillips

Shraddha Venkatramani

Steven Ward

andfills are a potential pollution threat to both ground and surface water resources. A September 2013 report by WasteNot consulting for WasteMINZ Behaviour Change Sector Group identified that total food waste to landfill from residential waste is estimated at 258,886 tonnes per annum, costing $751million. It is estimated that 10% or 25,889 tonnes of this waste could have been eaten. The Waikato Environment Centre are in need of a new brand campaign to launch an independent food rescue service, that will stand separate from the Environment Centre, and will act as a new way for food businesses to distribute their produce to Hamilton charities, helping to prevent future food wastage in the local landfill.

We visited the Environment Centre in Hamilton to meet the team, and see what the location for the food rescue service in Hamilton would look like.

We decided to visit the Environment Centre in Hamilton so we could have a look at the location and the warehouse where the food rescue service will be operating from. The centre at the moment is a well maintained and well equipped area with plenty of resources and good proximity to the Environment Centre.

Primary Research

To create a fresh and unique brand identity, we looked at some existing research material and what other food rescue services are doing around the country.

On speaking with our client, Ruth Seabright, we gained a good understanding of the logistics, the process of the food rescue service in Hamilton and how there is plenty of food in Hamilton that can be saved from being dumped into the landfills. By the look and feel of it, it is intended to be a youthful, fresh and sustainable service, one of a kind in Hamilton. The meeting with Ruth Seabright gave us a detailed insight on what is expected out of the Food Rescue Service in Hamilton. The aim is to minimise food wastage to a great extent and avoid food being dumped into the landfills. The idea is to have a fresh outlook on food that is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;good to eat but not good to sellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. We came up with a few names and brief thought processes behind each name and ran them past Ruth and Lindsay Cumberpatch, CEO of D.V. Bryant Trust. We decided to have a survey across the Environment Centre in order to pick a name that resonates with the current volunteers and the people involved in the process. There was a great deal of thought put into the four names suggested and we received positive feedback and criticism on our ideas. On analysing our primary research we decided on coming up with a fresh outlook and a brand name that resonates with businesses as well as local charities. Albeit, none of our initial ideas resonated with our survey subjects, we took it up as a challenge and revisited the client needs and their feedback on our initial ideas. We gave ourselves a second chance to come up with something new, different and something that will generate curiosity amongst the local communities.

Secondary Research

Part I - Food Rescue Feasibility Study The Food Rescue Feasibility Study Executive Summary prepared by Ruth Hungerford along with Ruth Seabright, at Momentum Research and Evaluation Ltd. was our first aid for the secondary research. The study talked about their objective for conducting a feasibility research, their key research findings were; potential recipient agencies, potential food donors and the set-up process of a new food rescue service. The key findings that were stated in the Feasibility Study helped us to formulate and list down our points of focus for creating a unique brand identity for the food rescue service. These included: Although the service has an ultimate vision of zero food wastage, starting small and creating awareness locally is of importance Tapping into a wide range of donors and carrying out the process professionally Ensuring that the promotion and branding would help build a sustainable service that encourages donors as well as volunteers to participate with enthusiasm

Part II - Other Food Rescue Services in NZ As part of our research we wanted to investigate and understand how other independent and established food services around New Zealand operated. We looked at five of the main regional food rescues services; Kaibosh Food Rescue, FoodShare, Waiwaste, Fairfood and Good Neighbourhood Food Rescue. Kaibosh, Waiwaste and Good Neighborhood are very social and community based food rescue services, whose donors and sponsors are very important to them and they give them public recognition for their help, but the social interaction aspect comes first. On the other hand you have Fairfood and Foodshare who are very social with their volunteers but place more focus on being the ‘middle man’ for corporates and businesses to distribute their foods to selected charities. For example; Fair Food works with Countdown who is their main donor. This partnership has proven to be very successful and in the first seven months of operations ‘The Countdown food rescue’ project have rescued over 13 tonnes of food. The main objective and theme by all the food rescue services is to save food that is ‘good enough to eat but not to sell’.

Part III - International Food Rescue Services We also thought it would be a good idea to investigate and understand how other independent and established food services work in other countries. These services were; Sainsbury Food Rescue UK, Give Now Australia and the Seattle Food Rescue.

GiveNow is a service agency. It encourages businesses and individuals to give not only food but other necessary items too, such as blankets, clothes, foster care and so on. They have similar values such as saving the environment, reducing pressure on landfills and helping charities and organisations that serve people in need. The Seattle Food Rescue is another service that aims at facilitating the transportation and redistribution of otherwise wasted food from businesses, to charities and agencies that serve hungry, unhoused, and low-income individuals. Although every food rescue service has their own way of distributing and saving food, they all have a similar underlying aim and objective - sharing food, stopping waste. All three food rescue services are very established and well known brands who have achieved this status through successful campaigning towards their business and donors, social and volunteer markets.

Secondary Research

The Sainsbury Food Rescue it is a brilliant App idea and an inspiration for our designing process. The service aims at individual families and minimising food wastage at the home level.

Part IV - Brand Logos N2C is a logo for a road safety awareness campaign. Â It uses the number 2 as a central part of the identity. I had seen the N2C logo before and thought it would be a good example to have a close look at, not only because it uses a 2 as part of the logo, but is also a not-for-profit entity. The design of the logo is very literal, using blood splatters to form the N and C, and a road to form the 2. The colours are based on what they represent, i.e. red for blood and grey for the road. There is a lot of detail in the logo, including the colour gradient on the 2, which gives the logo a dimensional look. However this could cause issues when downscaling, unless they have a more simplified version for those instances.

Conservation International is a logo our graphic designer found while doing research for environmental organisations, to get an idea of the sorts of logos they use. The Conservation International logo stood out to me more than the rest, because their overall look and feel was very clean, simple, corporate and professional. It looks like an organisation that should be taken seriously. The logo design is very contemporary. It has the name on the left using a bold and light form of a sans serif typeface. The name is in grey which signifies solidarity and intelligence. The abstract mark is positioned to the right. The blue circle could represent the earth, and the colour blue represents the sky and the water. The green line signifies land and the environment.

Bread for the World is a logo that he spotted when he had already begun logo concepts using a design based on bread. The pictorial mark in this logo not only uses bread, but also fish. They represent food and also have a religious connection. The brandmark sits above the name and tagline, with all these elements being centred, which gives a formal look. The orange colour signifies courage, friendliness and success, all of which are essential to the effectiveness of their cause. Black symbolises protection. Many not for profit organisations aim to protect those that can’t protect themselves, so black is a good choice. If these colours were used in New Zealand, they would likely get confused with Mitre 10 Mega.

When looking at food related businesses this logo stood out as being very friendly. Bucataria is Romanian for Kitchen. And the tagline, Gateste Sanatos, means “Healthy Cooking”. There is a combined wordmark and pictorial mark in this logo. The shape on top makes a chef’s hat, and the two ‘a’ letters make the eyes, with the macrons making the eyebrows. The ‘t’ forms the nose, with a curved line forming a smiling mouth. Red and green are complementary colours, and this logo uses variations of those colours. The maroon and lime green gives a classier look, than an ordinary red and green logo.

The business and corporate market is a very large sector in the Waikato region. This is a market which is always growing and developing with more businesses and corporates becoming more environmentally conscious and aware of the role they play within their neighbouring communities. The volunteer market is that of young persons and tertiary students. A sector of youthful individuals with an interest in helping out their own or adopted, if they are studying and are from a different town or city, community.

Psychographics Businesses that are looking to change the perception of their company away from the grey corporate image and food business, such as grocers and supermarkets, that recognise the impact food wastage has on landfills and the environment, and how it could instead be given to people in need. Corporations like Vodafone and Spark, are not food business, but they take an interest in giving back to their consumers and recognise how their companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions could benefit local communities.

Target Audience Profile

Background of Target Markets: Food Businesses, Corporates and Volunteers

Geographics Based or live within the Hamilton area Business factors: Hamilton had a total of 13,114 businesses in February 2011 and has remained constant with a slow increase due to the development of new industrial areas and public facilities, such as; Te Awa, The Base established by the Tainui group (Hamilton City Council Economic Update for Hamilton). Population factors: The total population of the Waikato Region is 413,100. 20 50 year olds make up approximately 41%, or 169,371 people. About half of these earn over $30,000 per year. We estimate our target market is approximately 85,000 people (Ministry of Health Population of Waikato DHB).

Demographics Volunteers:

Business:

Aged 20-30

Established and new businesses

Gender - Male and female

Food business and corporates

Environmentally conscious

Take an interest in local community

Occupation - Part time or full time - employed or students

Brand Brief

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Formed by volunteers at the Waikato Environment Centre, a new food rescue service for Hamilton has been in development. In order to launch into Hamilton’s current food rescue and not for proﬁt market, the food rescue team are in need of a fresh brand campaign.

VISION

We envision an environmentally conscious Hamilton that seeks to minimise food wastage by distributing and sharing with local communities.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

ESSENCE

Waikato Environment Centre Current and new sponsors Staﬀ and volunteers Food grocers and producers Current and new food donors Local charities Funders

Helping food business to be open to giving their food products a better outlet instead of the landﬁlls.

BIG IDEA

A big warm food hug. Eco Seconds ”Giving good food a second chance.”

MISSION

To generate warmth between Hamilton businesses and local charities by encouraging responsible behaviour towards the environment and helping to feed those in need.

ATTRIBUTES

Environmentally conscious Edgy and young Reliable A good business partner Community-friendly

TARGET MARKET Food businesses Corporates Volunteers

KEY SERVICES

Forming partnerships with local food businesses and corporates Picking up, storing, sorting and distributing food to local charities Avoiding food wastage to reduce the pressure on landﬁlls

Eco Seconds

Tagline Giving good food a second chance

Strategy

Brand Name

For the food rescue service we decided on Eco Seconds as the new brand name, as we wanted the word ‘Eco’ to relate to the client’s need of being seen as an environmentally friendly service that wants to change people’s perception of food, that is ‘Second’ can still be shared good food. The idea behind the Eco Seconds is to facilitate local charities with food that is good enough to eat but not to sell. Therefore, giving good food a second chance.

Objectives To encourage Hamilton youth to volunteer and have a new team of 10 volunteers by the end of year To reduce the amount of food that is dumped into Hamilton landfills by 20% by May 2015 To create awareness of the food rescue service within Hamilton To encourage people to talk more about the new brand identity when discussing food wastage To have businesses and the general public to think of the new food rescue service as a positive rather than a not-for-profit service with sad connotations. (Food thats good enough to eat but not good enough to sell)

The Big Idea “The Big Warm Food Hug” A kick-off event and brand launch followed by collecting, sorting and distributing to local charities. Video Blogs (vlog) will be made leading up to the kick-off event. Another vlog will be made displaying footage and the success of the event, the sorting of the produce and the reaction of the charities when they receive their big warm food hug.

Positioning The only food rescue service that works with a team of dedicated volunteers to connect local food businesses with local charities in Hamilton to avoid food wastage when you can feed those in need.

Brand Identity Name and tagline - ‘Eco’ indicates the environment and supports our mission to create a sustainable environment by minimising the level of food wastage in Hamilton. ‘Seconds’ aims at changing the perception of communities in Hamilton. We wish to reiterate that even though it is food that can no longer be sold, it is still good to eat. We intend to give businesses a second chance to do their bit for the environment, the charities a second chance to provide food for those in need and therefore giving the environment a second chance to sustain. Also a chance for volunteers to get involved in helping feed their local community.

Brand Design Elements Colours - The colours that would fit the brand the best are green and orange. Green represents the environment, health and freshness. Orange represents friendliness and youthfulness. Red is also worth considering, as it also represents youthfulness. Logo - Wordmarks or letterforms are commonly used for not-for-profit organisations. They are easy to understand and interpret. The concepts that we have been developing to date are wordmarks. Finding a suitable typeface is an important consideration. A serif typeface tends to look very official, and a sans serif typeface looks more contemporary and often youthful. The logo we have decided on is very clean and structured. The symbol can be seen as either an ‘e’, a ‘2’ or bread. We have decided to use a red-orange colour because of its friendly and youthful connotations, and because it is a warm colour, as opposed to the cold feeling of green. This helps the logo fit better with our big idea of a big ‘warm’ food hug. Using a single colour will help keep printing costs down. The typeface was chosen because of its close resemblance to the symbol.

Brand Touchpoints Kick-off event to potential business and volunteers Monthly business email newsletters Marketing material that suits businesses but is easily interchangeable to market to volunteers A stand-alone WordPress website Advertising: Social Media for volunteers, signage, vehicles Business Stationery - Visiting cards, letterheads

Marketing Strategy Video blogs and email newsletters leading up to event Kick-off event and brand launch will be held on a Wednesday evening for volunteers and current and potential donors

Campaign Plan

The Big Warm Food Hug campaign is aimed at creating a connection between corporates and food business donors with local charities by giving them a big warm food hug. As well as promoting Eco Seconds as a reliable and friendly food rescue service brand within Hamilton.

Thursday and Friday van will collect produce from donors Saturday for sorting Monday for delivering Video Blog on Monday of the campaign success and the charities reaction to their big warm food hug

Key Messages Get involved in creating an environmentally conscious Hamilton Food that’s good to eat but not good enough to sell Feed your community, not your landfill

Promotion Our channels of promotion are WordPress, YouTube, MailChimp and Facebook. WordPress - Instead of developing a website we decided that a WordPress would be a better option. To create a WordPress is free, easy to use, and modern with interactive, colourful themes that can be designed specific to your cause. Many other not-forprofit services, nationally and internationally, use WordPress as a starting tool for a website that can also be further promoted with a small cost in the long run. YouTube and Video Blogs - YouTube is a great way to share your progress and spread your not for profit messages. The video blogs (vlogs) are a more personal way for you to connect with your markets by vlogging what the food rescue service has been up to during the week. It is also a way to maintain the relationship with donors as they will be able to see the progress of the service and the reactions of charities that their donations have been distributed to.

Mailchimp Email Newsletters - Mailchimp is a free online campaign tool for sending email newsletters and other campaign promotions that are based online. You simply upload your recipients email details, design your newsletter and send it off. Mailchimp also measures the success of your newsletters and campaigns. Volunteer Community Facebook Page Advertising a brand or business on Facebook can be expensive but it is free to create a community page. We thought this would be a great way to reach new volunteers and as a news and blogging space to share and maintain the relationship with Eco Seconds’ volunteers. We chose not to advertise the new brand through radio, television or print as we wanted to keep the budget as low cost as we could. So we went with the advertising avenues above as they are more specific and accessible for reaching the target markets.

Timeline

9th November 2014 Approval on brand campaign strategy

10th November 2014 Begin campaign implementation

15th November 2014 Kick-off event for potential businesses

16th November 2014 - 30th November 2014 Continue to implement plan and work on brand touchpoints

1st December 2014 - 5th December 2014 Pre-testing the campaign with potential volunteers and businesses

6th December 2014 onwards Monitor and measure campaign

Item

Amount $

Advertising Facebook

0.00

MailChimp

0.00

Vehicle Graphics

1,595.00

Video Blogs

0.00

WordPress

0.00

Total

Budget