Situation

In 2017, Rabobank, an internationally operating Dutch cooperative bank launched its new worldwide mission: Growing a Better World Together. Meaning of this mission is that together with our clients and partners we can contribute to sustainable growth that leads to a better world.

Brief

Build a ground-breaking, CO2-reducing consumer food-experience.

Objectives

Create maximum awareness, understanding and consciousness about worldwide future food consumption. Package this in a circular, breath-taking and futuristic building where Rabobank can present CO2-reducing food solutions.

Budget

€250,000

Project-scale/volume

The futuristic building is 100% circular: no resources are wasted. Brasserie2050 is constructed using borrowed, hired and dismantlable standard building-materials. The main-structure consists of standard palletracks. Tables produced from recycled plastic. Vertical agricultural cabinets with herbs formed the outer walls. Onions, corn and wheat were stored above the tables. Mesh box-pallets filled with grain served as ballast. As a result, everything was reusable and there was no waste.

Instead of traditional storytelling to convince people about the future of food-production and consumption, we created a unique food-experience at a relevant venue. Never before has a financial cooperative launched a circular pop-up restaurant at a festival. The ground-breaking and world famous Dutch festival Lowlands became a PR-machine for a tangible brand-experience for Rabobank’s mission. Using our agricultural roots, knowledge, clients, research and state-of-the-art circular design we aimed to prove that future food is delicious and achievable for everybody. This is how we can feed 10 billion people in 2050!

To make the event a success and deliver high impact, all dishes had to be well known, recognisable and widely accepted. Every dish had a unique story to tell about food dilemmas, for example scarcity of resources, overfishing, meat consumption and waste. All the dishes had to achieve a CO2 reduction of at least 60% compared with traditional recipes.

Insight

By 2050, the Earth will be home to 10 billion people. If we want to feed them all, we must change food production and consumption NOW!

Key Message

Brasserie2050 at Lowlands is the ultimate example of how future generations can enjoy fine-dining while at the same time reducing CO2, waste and the footprint of worldwide food production. Brasserie2050 was Rabobanks' showcase of how the world can be fed in 2050.

Target-Audience

Audience consisted of a) Foodies (vlog/blog) and traditional media with a broad audience, b) quarter of a million visitors to the Lowlands festival and c) the general Dutch public.

Distribution

To reach out to all these audiences, Rabobank used Brasserie2050 as a practical translation of its vision on future food challenges into well-known dishes to launch the debate on how to feed the world in 2050, and to change public opinion on the circular economy, sustainability

Implementation

• 100% circular-built restaurant Brasserie2050;

• 100% sustainable dinner experience;

• 100% widely accepted and well-known dishes;

• 100% locally sourced ingredients;

• 100% recyclable;

• 100% green energy;

• 0% waste.

Timeline & Placement

• -1 year: initial thinking/idea;

• -9 months: design and building structure and energy sourcing;

• -5 months: final communication and PR plan;

• -1 month: final branding details;

• Grand opening/press/VIP/influencers dinners; daily VIP receptions, operation for quarter of a million visitors;

• +1 month: Evaluation, press follow-up and future placement and development of Brasserie2050.

Scale

Brasserie2050 was executed and thought through in every detail. From the cook’s tubes (100% recyclable PET plastic) to the building materials for Brasserie2050. Everything, from structure to food was recyclable, sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Reach: All national TV, radio, online and print media covered Brasserie2050 and reported on it as the ultimate demonstration of how to reduce CO2 related to food-production and consumption. Over 75% of the Dutch general public (18+) was reached >3x by this free media coverage.

Engagement: All communication at Brasserie2050 was a conversation-starter for discussion during dinner about food in relation to CO2-reduction, sustainability and future-food consumption. Rabobank presented itself as initiator and trusted party to the world future food solution.

Impact: Brasserie2050 was living proof of sustainable consumption/production. All ingredients were locally sourced and energy-efficient. Production according to the shortest possible production chains. All all efforts realised a CO2 reduction in excess of 60% compared with traditional recipes. Brasserie2050 was rated most relevant brand activation.

Achievement: Brasserie2050 became the tangible proof of our mission. Brasserie2050 proved that in our mission, we are not only talking the talk but also