Foodbank WA is an organisation that provides food insecure people across Western Australia with access to nutritional food, no matter their situation. In 2023, Foodbank released its Annual Food Report, revealing an ominous reality. 

A staggering 250,000 Western Australians are facing severe food insecurity, and of those, 116,000 are children. This showed an increase of 80,000 households regularly going without food from 2022 to 2023.

85% of Western Australian households experiencing food insecurity said this directly resulted from the cost of living. This often means deciding between paying for everyday needs like electricity or food, or heartbreakingly, whether you or your child gets to eat. With no sign of cost-of-living decreasing, these numbers are predicted to grow.

Foodbank WA needed a campaign that would increase awareness around food insecurity, drive donations and ultimately, bring hope to hungry Western Australians.

A central destination for our campaign, where the story of hunger, hormones and hope truly came alive, was the Hunger Ghrelins website. Rather than a static, templated landing page, we created an interactive experience, controlled by the scroll of the users themselves. As the user scrolled through the site, they were brought on an animated journey through the origins of hunger and into the world of the Hunger Ghrelins. Navigating through a maze of interactive imagery and animated characters, our users were led to the opportunity to purchase their toy kit, with all proceeds providing meals for those in need.

The #hungergrehlins allowed us to pull in user generated content and photography, displaying people’s own Hunger Ghrelins creation and encouraging shares across social channels.

The strategy behind The Hunger Ghrelins was dual-pronged. The purpose? To raise awareness and educate around hunger, and increase donations, providing meals to those facing food insecurity.

A film and OOH campaign lead people to our bespoke website, telling our story of hunger, hormones and hope. Visitors were taken on an animated journey into the stomach of a hungry child – where the Hunger Ghrelins roam.

A world of irritability, distraction, and frustration.

Hope came in the form of a donation-driving Hunger Ghrelins Toy for $15 – with proceeds providing meals for those in need. The website encouraged further awareness and donations with social sharing.

Toys were made available in supermarkets across Western Australia in the lead-up to Christmas, and supported by advertising: OOH, film, radio, social media and influencer PR.

DONATE – CREATE – ACTIVATE

The Hunger Ghrelins has been executed across multiple media formats, engaging our audience to interact with the campaign at different times throughout the ongoing campaign timeline.

A film, OOH, and radio executions lead people to our bespoke website, telling the story of hunger, hormones and hope.

The website acted as a storytelling platform and a direct path to purchase: people could buy their Hunger Ghrelins kits. Furthermore, the website encouraged people to donate directly to Foodbank WA and to share on social media, creating even more visitors and donations.

The toy sold in supermarkets and shops across WA, supported by social media, including influencers promoting The Hunger Ghrelins across their own channels, expanding the reach of The Hunger Ghrelins campaign.

The Hunger Ghrelins have been rolled out to film, OOH, social media, a bespoke website and, of course, the packaging.

Packaging and zine – tell the story, dive into the science behind ghrelin and why this is such a significant cause to raise funds for.

Three months into a 12-month drive, The Hunger Ghrelins campaign results have been beyond expectation.

NOTE: The population of Western Australia is: 2.7 million.

Our earned influencer reach is at 263,195*.

Estimated potential reach* is at 15.8 million.

*Numbers provided by Cannings Purple PR.

By far the most overwhelming number has been the 1.5 million meals provided to Foodbank WA during the time of The Hunger Ghrelins campaign – putting much-needed food on the tables of Western Australians facing severe food insecurity.