Hungry Puffs is the empty box of cereal that caught people off guard. In the ‘moment of truth’ when shoppers were buying food for their own families, they were suddenly encouraged to support a much bigger cause – to help feed kids that go without breakfast every day. A simple idea that people couldn’t help but talk about it. Soon Hungry Puffs had the attention of influencers, celebrities and even politicians, creating so much interest it helped to overturn a proposed government funding cut – while creating meals for 625,000 hungry children along the way.

The brief was to raise money and awareness to support Foodbank in delivering emergency food relief and breakfast programs to hungry children across Western Australia after the Government cut funding to the charity by $323,000 per annum just a month before Christmas.

The aim was to fill the funding gap created by the funding cut to ensure food relief programs weren't cancelled and to raise awareness of the growing hunger crisis in the country - with more than 1 in 5 children experiencing food insecurity each year in Australia.

The total budget - $15,000 AUD.

We created a new cereal brand, called Hungry Puffs – The breakfast over 100,000 West Aussie kids wake up to every day – nothing.

In the lead-up to Christmas, entirely empty boxes of Hungry Puffs were stocked in over 40 major supermarket cereal aisles across Western Australia.

Grocery shoppers who were in the process of buying food for their own families were then asked to support a much bigger cause – and help feed children who go without breakfast every day.

To turn a box of nothing into something, shoppers simply had to purchase the product at the check-out along with their weekly groceries. A $5 box of Hungry Puffs providing 10 food deprived children with their next meal.

Competing with a clutter of charities advertising in traditional media channels in the lead up to Christmas, Hungry Puffs used the supermarket shelf as a launch pad for PR attention.

We convinced over 40 major supermarkets throughout the state to give up valuable shelf space, creating a ‘moment of truth’ when shoppers who were buying food for their own families were suddenly encouraged to support a much bigger cause and help feed kids that go without breakfast every day.

Creating this unexpected moment in an unexpected environment was key to the campaign’s success.

As soon as boxes of Hungry Puffs reached supermarket shelves, the campaign took off, gaining traction with shoppers who began talking about it on social media. Our in-store sampling stations which included empty boxes of hungry Puffs and bowls of nothing, also got people talking.

Soon influencers and celebrities got onboard telling people to look out for the stark black & white box in supermarket breakfast cereal aisles – a design that was hard to miss amongst a sea of joyful colour. As momentum built, even politicians got onboard, all the way up to the Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan.

And as a result, all this attention helped overturn a proposed government funding cut for foodbank. Instead, the government agreed to double Foodbank’s funding support over the next four years. All while Hungry Puffs provided 625,770 meals to food-deprived children in the 2018 Christmas donation appeal.

Tier 1: Media Outputs - coverage depth (quality/quantity), tone and message delivery, purchase intent (survey)

Tier 2: Target Audience Outcomes - measurable changes in awareness, comprehension, perceptions/attitudes/ opinions, and target behaviours/actions/responses achieved

Tier 3: Business Outcomes – campaign's measurable effect on sales/revenues/profits, market share, stock valuation, brand equity, reputation scores and other traditional marketing and business metrics

Target Audience Outcomes:

The total amount donated by individual taxpayers in Australia was down 7.2% in 2018. This reduction is largely due to 9,044 new charities established in the last three years. Despite this, Hungry Puffs managed to buck this trend securing 62,577 individual donations from grocery shoppers, compared to 18,710 individual donations during 2017.

The positive attention generated by Hungry Puffs also helped overturn a proposed government's funding cut for Foodbank, which would have seen the charity $323,000 per annum worse off.

Business Outcomes:

In 4 weeks, Hungry Puffs resulted in the creation of 625,770 meals for Western Australian children and raised $312,885.

62,577 boxes of Hungry Puffs were sold.

Foodbank donations more than doubled during the campaign period, receiving 2.4 times more donations on the previous year (2017 to 2018).

Hungry Puffs produced a 1973% ROI for Foodbank - on a campaign budget of $15,000 AUD.

Foodbank has just reached an agreement with a major supermarket chain which will see Hungry Puffs stocked in a further 208 stores across the state by the end of 2019.