The soil is in crisis.

92% of global CEOs have stated that regenerative agriculture is critical to the future of their business. But people don't have a clue what it is.

So McCain stepped forward to lead the whole food industry with the creation of an entirely new food category: Regen. (Forget "organic" products. They aren't enough to save the global food system).

And how did we do it?

With a Roblox farming game played by 30 million people that took regen ag out of the boardroom and into culture, generating buzz and demand for regen foods from next-gen consumers.

"How do we get next generation audiences to listen to what we have to say about how we farm potatoes?" Max Koeune, CEO, McCain Foods

The soil is in crisis. It provides 95% of the world’s food and stores 75% of the planet’s carbon. But the equivalent of one soccer field of soil erodes every five seconds. A shift to regenerative agriculture is urgent.

McCain Foods is the world’s largest manufacturer of potato products. It makes 1 in 4 of ALL french fries globally. It is taking a pioneering lead in the supply-side shift: by 2030 100% of its potatoes will be farmed regeneratively.

But supply side shifts must be rapidly matched by consumer demand

Brief

Make McCain a global leader in Regenerative Farming: educate audiences and accelerate consumer demand at scale for "next-gen", planet-friendly food products.

Objective

Raise awareness of regenerative agriculture & establish demand for regeneratively farmed food.

Nobody knows about regenerative farming. But EVERYBODY knows about - and LOVES - french fries. So we created a gaming experience that took audiences all the way from "Farm to Fries".

First we took them to the farm - a "virtual twin" of McCain's pioneering Farm of the Future in Livetopia - a hugely popular "sim" gaming world in Roblox.

Then we delivered the fries. An ambitious launch of actual Regen Fries - made from the first ever crop of regen potatoes grown - mirroring the virtual fries in the game. The world's first ever "planet-friendly french fries" moved from pixels to product that we "dropped" IRL via an exclusive partnership (and global tour) with Bored & Hungry burgers.

The seamless interplay of virtual gaming, social and physical worlds was an instant hit.

News articles, 'Farmtok' creators - even Heinz joined our mission to #saveoursoil with a gaming activation.

Target Audience

Primary - GenZ Audiences that can have disproportionate influence on food culture.

Secondary - Agricultural Industry and retail partners (eg Fast Food chains and Grocers) who need to join the Regen mission.

The dull ‘tick-box’ world of annual report commitments and corporate sustainability announcements is limiting progress in the adoption of regenerative agriculture. To create real change, young audiences need to understand what regenerative agriculture is, why it matters, and demand regeneratively farmed produce. For this to happen, they need a brand to kickstart the demand curve: propel ‘Regen Ag’ into the buzz of popular culture.

By demonstrating this consumer demand for "high margin" new regen products, McCain are driving faster adoption - and greater investment - across all their farming and retail partners to adopt/buy into regenerative practices and products.

DRAFT

Describe the execution (150 words)

• Implementation

The virtual Farm of the Future was created within Roblox, followed by the launch of Regen Fries in partnership with Bored & Hungry restaurants.

• Timeline

The campaign unfolded over 12 weeks, with the virtual farm attracting millions of visits and interactions.

• Placement

The virtual farm on Roblox, collaborations with restaurants in L.A., London, and Toronto, and the #saveoursoil campaign on TikTok.

• Scale

Global reach, targeting millions of consumers through virtual and physical touchpoints.

McCain Regen Fries has been named a “World Changing Idea 2023” by Fast Company’s editorial team (April 2023). “McCain recognizes the education potential that lies with younger consumers to transform the global food system” Sustainable Brands

Over 30M visits to the virtual farm, 18M regen farming learning sessions, and 23M virtual potatoes grown and harvested! To put this in context, this is more visits than Spotify Island has received! And for the first 12 weeks of the activity it was receiving more daily visits than Nike Land or GucciTown. (SOURCE: GEEIQ).

500M organic views on TikTok for related #SaveOurSoil content.

Significant news impact - 476 articles and TV coverage in one week.

Total Global Reach: 350 Million.

There was zero media spend support and only a $50k creator budge. All media reach driven organically.

10,000 servings of Regen Fries served at Bored & Hungry’s LA restaurant in just 2 weeks.

Bored and Hungry was chosen as the launch partner for Regen Fries to create GenZ hype in North America and the UK and give McCain (a not cool brand!) a contemporary edge.

Bored and Hungry was the most hyped burger brand of 2023, making world news as the first NFT-themed restaurant, launching with a Bored Yacht Ape Club ape as brand identity.

It made national news at launch, with mile long queues round the block, and was voted the Best Burger in America by Good Morning America on NBC. We licensed their Ape to use in the design artwork - the empty fries cartons even appeared on Ebay, selling for $20+!

It's also important to know that whilst big in Canada & UK, McCain is very minor consumer brand in the USA - its business is mainly B2B. This makes the impact it had even more remarkable.