While NotCo enjoys a strong presence among plant-based enthusiasts in the U.S. and Mexico, this community remains relatively niche. However, the vast majority of meat lovers are yet to discover the brand and its innovative offerings. Our mission? To captivate a broader audience and entice them to try NotCo's products through engaging conversations about food choices.

Not So Happy Animals is an experience that challenges consumers to rethink their perception of animal products by bringing to life the seemingly happy animals in the food logos.

How it works:

1. Using their mobile devices, people scan a "happy animal" logo they find on the streets, at the store, on their menus, or even while browsing the internet.

2. Through augmented reality, the animal comes to life and sings a snarky tune about its unhappiness due to animal cruelty, and it prompts them to consider alternative options. Every logo delivers a different musical message.

3. The user gets a discount to purchase NotCo's plant-based products and is redirected to a supermarket's e-commerce to redeem it.

Getting meat eaters' attention is a challenging task. They are accustomed to being either oversold on the goodness of plant-based products or over-lectured on the environmental consequences of their food choices, so we asked ourselves, how could we reimagine how these products are marketed to them?

Three answers marked our way:

A fact: Animal welfare is one of the most important drivers that triggers behavioral change.

A cultural provocation: Why do logos of happy animals actually sell dead animals?

A truth: It is natural for people to resist arguments that require them to do things they don't want to do. Humor, especially sarcasm, would be our best way to open people's disposition, and a seamless experience would make it easier for them to try it.

With that, NotCo was ready to take a stake in the food conversation by blatantly poking at the food industry.

We launched a bold two-minute film the original song, sang by the “happy” animal logos aired in the U.S. and Mexico. We used influencers, in-store, social media, digital ads; digital and OOH activations to spark instant engagement.

The experience was made easily accessible through a user-friendly browser-based solution:

-Users simply activated their cameras and scanned food logos by visiting the nothappy.com website. The system recognized over 40 different logos of food companies across 80 states in both markets in real-time.

-Once a logo is recognized, the website automatically displays an animated version of the animal associated with that logo in augmented reality.

-By integrating fluid animations with pre-recorded audio tracks, the users are immersed in a rich animated experience in which every animal scanned sings a different song.

-With the microsite enabling promo codes, every interaction launched coupon to be redeemed in over 50,000 stores and e-commerce.

The Not So Happy Animals campaign spurred remarkable retail growth for NotCo compared to the previous year, boasting a 76% redemption rate.

Sales metrics showed a substantial surge (up by 116% in just two weeks), particularly benefiting three key products: NotBurger, NotChicken, and NotChicken Nuggets, for which the demand rocketed.

In addition to financial success, this initiative significantly boosted brand awareness and resonance with meat consumers, whom we enabled as animal welfare militants, and transformed from potential consumers into NotCo enthusiasts.

Source: Justo MX, Amazon & NotCo sales intel