Stickers With A Purpose: Find out how this brand helped alleviate food wastage through stickers!

From the desk of Miles Everson:

Hello!

I’m thrilled to share with you another example of a successful guerrilla marketing campaign.

For those of you who may not know, guerrilla marketing is an unconventional strategy that motivates marketers to interact with audiences in a unique and memorable way.

I am a huge fan of this strategy because it shows there are so many ways to attract an audience’s attention without needing to spend so much.

Today, we’ll take a deep dive on a guerrilla marketing campaign that put a creative and low-cost spin on an everyday item.

Continue reading below!

Food wastage is a problem that the world continues to grapple with and in 2022 alone, over 1 billion meals were wasted across the globe, according to the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme .

Despite food wastage being an issue that’s widely known, households across the globe continue to contribute to this pervasive problem.

That’s why in 2023, Makro Supermarkets Colombia set out to answer this issue.

An Easy Way to Prevent Food Wastage

According to Colombia’s National Planning Department and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization , around 6.1 million tons of food are wasted annually, with fruits and vegetables accounting for 40% of the wastage.

This wastage is attributed to the short life cycle of produce and the misconception that ripe fruits and vegetables are unusable or not optimal for consumption.

Recognizing this problem, Marko Supermarkets set out to educate its own consumers on preventing food waste… and to turn this vision to reality, it partnered with VML Colombia , a subsidiary of the creative company VML .

According to Juan Yepes, the former marketing director of Makro Colombia, the company wanted to “generate a simple yet powerful change in people’s behavior to educate them about the responsible consumption of fruit and vegetables.”

To bring this vision to life, the campaign team used a media that has been used in the fruit vegetable industry for decades: The fruit sticker… or what’s commonly referred to as a produce sticker or price look-up (PLU) sticker.

For those who might not know, produce stickers have been around for decades and have been used to identify produce, keep track of inventory, and distinguish between varieties and country of origin.

So, what kind of creative spin did Makro Colombia put on such stickers?

Instead of having produce stickers serve their usual purpose, the campaign team remade them into a tool that informed consumers and nudged them into making full use of the fruits and vegetables they bought regardless of ripeness.

As a result, the Life-Extending Stickers were created and while they looked like colorful stickers, they were actually designed to mimic the color of each food item at various points of its ripeness.

For example, the colors in a banana sticker goes from green to yellow to brown and black, and contained within each color is a corresponding cooking or use suggestion.

These stickers were launched in April 2023 and were in use in 22 Makro Supermarkets across Colombia during “Market Wednesdays and Thursdays.”

The campaign also included a variety of recipes showcased on Makro’s Instagram account.

With the help of these stickers, Makro Supermarkets provided Colombians with an easy way to use the produce they brought from beginning to end, lessen wastage, and ultimately, save money.

According to VML, these Life-Extending Stickers added an average of six days to the lifetime of produce that came with the stickers.

Additionally, the campaign generated more than 85,000 social media interactions and reached an audience of 264 million in over 25 countries.

What’s more?

The Life-Extending Stickers drew accolades from prestigious award shows like Cannes Lions in 2023, the Clio Awards , the One Show Awards , and D&AD Awards , in 2024.

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By putting a creative spin on an item that’s been used for decades, Makro Colombia and VML Colombia were able to craft a campaign that enabled them to meaningfully interact with their target audience.

More importantly, this creative spin enabled them to push their agenda forward without needing to spend so much.

All in all, Makro and VML Colombia came up with a campaign that put forward a noble cause while generating brand awareness in a positive, meaningful, and organic way.

The bottom line?

Pulling off inexpensive and attention-grabbing campaigns in today’s tech-savvy world is still viable and possible.

All that’s needed is a deep knowledge of your target audience and some out-of-the-box thinking!

Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.

Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!

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See it in next week’s article!