Our contributions on behalf of MadeGood foods, for the Un-Wreck the Future campaign, are relevant for PR recognition on the world stage as the editorial coverage we secured played a crucial role in the success of bringing a positive halo to how one Canadian startup CPG company was making a difference to the global issue of food insecurity.

The issue of sufficient, affordable food and the environmental impacts

associated with it are suitably concerning and outright depressing.

The PR contributions to this multi-channel communication campaign

completely changed the trajectory and turned worry into action on behalf of the brand.

This is the story of a Canadian startup taking on the global food monoliths to provide healthier, more environmentally friendly packaged snacks.

It all began in 2013 when Nima, one of the sibling founders, couldn’t find a healthy snack that was also safe for school for his son. So, he teamed up with his sisters to launch MadeGood.

Now the lead brand in the portfolio, the purpose of their company is to inspire a healthier, more compassionate world.

In June of 2021 the communication partners were briefed on the objective of creating a movement to inspire environmental change.

The creative agency created a (2:15) hero brand ‘film’, with various cutdown options available featuring young people attempting to find solutions to the pressing issues facing our planet. The UN-WRECK THE FUTURE campaign was born. Digital streaming & social, cinema and health club video were the main channels for paid and earned.

Shedding light on the pressing issues facing our planet resulted in a rather dark message. The kids bringing forth the issue in the brand spot were worried, scared, and understandably overwhelmed with the task of improving the situation.

This gave the PR leads an idea. They needed to change the trajectory of the campaign by providing hope. Solutions. Engagement in a specific cause, which ultimately became food insecurity for year one. They mirrored the concept of having young people empowered to change the future by sourcing real-life agents of change who were already activists engaged in the issue of food insecurity in their local communities and beyond. These change-makers were inspiring, credible spokespeople, but they weren’t exactly famous. So, influencer champions for the cause were layered in to help spread the word and develop even more engagement.

The PR strategy leveraged the brilliance and passion of the real-life food activists by turning them into the face of the brand with the media. Ian McKeena (16), Sophie Bernstein (21) from the US and Rachel Parent (22), Jonathan Bear Yeung (12) from Canada became food insecurity advocates for the media to speak to, providing an impressive look at how motivated Gen Z and youth are to change the future of the planet. The youth issued a national call to action, asking people to visit the Unwreckthefuture.com website to register events or causes in need of in-kind support, or take things one step further and submit to join the Un-Wrecking crew.

Purpose driven influencer champions like Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Roland Pollard brought further attention and digital engagement, given the power of their followings. Social influencers in the food insecurity space such as @ShinaNova and @ArcticMakeup were integral to the mission.

The one two punch of expert opinion leaders and purpose-driven social influencers provided the ability to deliver broad reach, which paid off in spades. The Un-Wrecking Crew ambassadors combed through hundreds of submissions to announce their full Un-Wrecking Crews, which saw 12 youth in the US and 12 in Canada bring their causes to the forefront for in-kind product support and ample media attention.

Given the broad range of expertise, causes and local news opportunities each of our new youth spokespeople brought to the table, relevant editorial messaging in a broad spectrum of channels became possible; from morning shows to television news and newspaper coverage, to the entertainment programs and features, to TikTok and Instagram.

The exposure in People Magazine and eTalk coverage featuring Maitreyi combined with the 631,000 likes to her Instagram post drove website traffic alone by 85% and significantly increased microsite submissions.

The clients were thrilled

"Including both real-life youth change-makers as Campaign Ambassadors and purpose-driven Celebrity Influencers offered a positive story, which balanced-out the serious nature of the campaign and broadened the appeal. Media pickup, both qualitatively and quantitatively, exceeded all expectations. The PR activation was the jewel of the campaign and really helped to bring the concept full circle." - Wade Crouch, Senior Director, Marketing, Riverside Natural Foods.

Industry Coverage was significant

The campaign was featured as a fresh communications approach through international media - Adweek - ‘Kids Ponder Environmental Crisis in Un-wreck the Future’, The Stable - ‘MadeGood invites Kids to Un-Wreck the Future with their Ideas’, Ads of the World, Media Post, Strategy, The Message, Applied Arts, and more.

By the Numbers

The reach of the campaign was indeed incredible, but what was even more important was the quality of the coverage and the length of the interviews and brand exposure.

Earned Media Audience Reach topped 326 million across North America

This was accomplished through 335 Placements:

Featuring in-depth interviews on 15 broadcast segments; 38 interviews; and 3 radio podcasts

Social Media Reach of 10 million

MadeGood passed Kashi to become the #1 organic granola bar brand in the US.

Sales and growth increased exponentially across North America. MadeGood had their biggest quarter ever when the campaign was in market.

"We realize we have an obligation to do our part of the betterment of the world’, explained Brand Manager Milana Kleidman. And indeed MADE GOOD on their word.

As a certified b-corp, MadeGood prides itself on being a forward thinking brand at the forefront of sustainability objectives. Caring for the planet is baked throughout their company ethos and there is an inherent belief that their impact must be good, or nothing at all. To inspire a healthier and more compassionate world, and as one step in their journey to fulfilling our purpose, they created their first Sustainability Report to hold themselves accountable.

We were inspired to create this campaign based on their mission to bring about a healthier world by creating nutritious food grown with no chemicals, by striving for zero waste through various next use options, and by providing living wages that reduce poverty and food insecurity.