With the never-ending economic crisis in Egypt, there’s a heightened sense of social responsibility among Egyptians. They have become more inclined to choosing brands that have an impact on the community and are socially responsible. 82% prefer buying from brands that do good.

And so, in an extremely cluttered market where consumers are bombarded with a barrage of offers, messages and promises from food brands, Knorr, a food solution brand from Unilever, was aiming to earn its role in the Egyptian homes by increasing its relevance to the Egyptian community, establishing itself as a brand that was socially responsible too.

Now, for years, Knorr in Egypt, has been tackling the issue of hunger through various food donation initiatives. Yet, no one paid heed to what Knorr was doing beyond those receiving the food donations.

It was time, for Knorr, to transform the way it made an impact in Egypt.

A FOOD BRAND IN A MARKET THAT FACED A HUNGER CRISIS.

In 2019, owing to the debilitating impact of the economic crisis, poverty across Egypt hit a new high and resulted in a hunger crisis affecteing millions, leaving them in dire need for food and income to provide for their families’ most basic human needs.

It wasn’t Knorr’s first time to run an initiative tackling hunger. But standard charitable drives, in a period such as Ramadan, that were focused on getting people to donate food or meals, had a short-term intent, hence, a short-term influence.

Unfortunately, just like Knorr’s and other organizations’ donation drives, the underprivileged are under the mercy of if, when and how much donors are willing donate, leaving them in a constant state of insecurity, instability and hunger.

SDGs impacted by this transformational idea:

#2 Zero Hunger.

#1 No Poverty.

#3 Partnerships for the Goals.

Through Knorr's Rooftop Farms, we converted concrete and sand buildings with no place to grow food, into green and flourishing rooftops with farms to grow food.

The idea transformed the lives of the underprivileged in Egypt’s cities by creating a new transformational business model for Knorr that was sustainable and profitable for them.

And in turn, we also transformed the dry and arid landscape of Egypt’s cities into lush rooftop farms full of vegetables.

We shifted Egypt’s cityscape from: Concrete and sand buildings with no place to grow food.

And we shifted Egypt’s cityscape to have: Green and flourishing rooftops with farms to grow food.

Ensuring nutritious food was accessible and affordable to all, we were reinventing food donation and growing solutions, for Egyptians, and making the land (the landscape and cityscape) healthier.

Instead of “Knorr is donating to Egyptians”, we wanted people to think: “Knorr is solving for Egyptians.”

We used an untapped insight in Egypt:

"If you give someone a fish, you feed that person for a day. But, if you teach someone to fish, you feed that person for a lifetime."

If we donated food, we’d feed those who were hungry for a day.

But, if we helped them grow food and make money in doing so, we’d feed them for a lifetime, especially given the resilience of Egyptians to make things happen.

And we built our strategic transformation on shifting from:

"Feed those living in poverty and hunger by giving them food donations, that helped them today."

To:

"Empowering those living in poverty and hunger by enabling them to grow their own food, that will help them today and in the future."

Working with German engineers and hydroponic technology, we created fully sustainable food-generating farms, placed across buildings in Egypt, operated by underprivileged farmers themselves.

All the food produced, was purchased by Knorr, giving the rooftop farmers a new sustainable source of income.

Because this was a non-traditional charity concept, we needed a non-traditional approach to announcing it to the world.

We promoted the rooftop farms through Outdoor Murals, Films, Social Media and PR.

Murals on buildings that houses the rooftop farms stood out like beacons of hope amidst the dry and arid landscapes in Egypt. The meaningful art to bring out the meaningful initiative helped the rooftop farms get talked about and earn social media advocacy.

Facebook joined the cause through a Hack for Good and came up with ideas to further promote and support the rooftop farms as endorsing the campaign through added marketing and online reach of its own.

CULTURE:

Uncovering an interest in sustainable farming, it caught the attention of Egypt’s largest NGO, Misr El Kheir. Within a month, Misr El Kheir partnered with Knorr to scale it to a 100 more rooftops.

With the word of mouth, endorsements and partnerships, this topic was discussed in the Egyptian parliament and with the signing of a Presidential Bill, the rooftop farms initiative from Knorr was transformed into a nation wide initiative of its own as part of Egypt’s sustainable development plan.

BRAND:

Leading media channels endorsed and propagated the idea, giving Knorr free earned media worth $3.5 million.

A +2.5% uplift in brand awareness.

BUSINESS:

+42% purchase intent (KPI: 30%).

+ 23.1% in turnover vs. the year prior (KPI: 20%).

+19% growth in volumes vs. the year prior (KPI: 15%).

Knorr in Egypt became the fastest growing food business and the 4th largest food business in Unilever’s portfolio, globally.