Over the past decade, environmental consciousness experienced a big shift and people finally understood the necessity of a more sustainable lifestyle. A heated topic, followed by many public debates. Everyone is looking for practices that can be adopted to everyday life to help reduce the impact on the planet. People demand brands to take a clear stand, share values and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

Barilla invested in a more eco-friendly behavior, from a more sustainable supply chain to a plastic-free packaging. In fact, Barilla is one of the few brands to use no plastic but 99,7% virgin fiber paper in their packaging, which is more than 99% responsibly sourced and certified by the FSC.

Barilla’s Secondhand Box is an idea, rooted in the brand's long-term commitment to take sustainable action with the strength to take this purpose to the next level.

People ship millions of things on secondhand platforms, but they don’t have millions of boxes to do so. Instead, they use plastic bags and defy the purpose of the eco-friendly secondhand system. The campaign Secondhand Box was created by Barilla to show a more sustainable alternative to plastic bags: pasta boxes. With over one billion pasta boxes sold worldwide yearly, Barilla boxes can be found in households over 100 countries and simply be repurposed by secondhand sellers. We teamed up with famous tidying up expert Marie Kondo and created several tutorials to explain how to fit small, medium and large items into the corresponding Barilla boxes. Our message was spread through PR, Social Media and relevant secondhand shipping platforms, but also with the boxes as a media space shipped to many new households.

People who sell on the secondhand market are so concerned about finding something to ship their pre-loved items - they don’t even realize there’s already an alternative to the makeshift plastic packs they go with.To communicate the Barilla box as the perfect parcel, we needed an expert to convince people with a sustainable mindset. Marie Kondo - the world famous tidying up expert starring in her own Netflix show was perfect to enable Barilla’s commitment to a more eco-friendly lifestyle.The booming secondhand market was expected to more than double from 2021 until 2025. To directly speak to secondhand lovers and everyone with interest in sustainability, we targeted directly on the biggest reselling platforms. In tutorials for different sized boxes, Marie Kondo used her famous KonMari method to fit all kinds of clothes into the packages. With her reach and secondhand relevant influencers, we spread Barilla’s message and sparked sustainable joy.

On World Recycling Day 2024, Barilla launched the Secondhand Box. The campaign was created to have PR value in itself and to be spread by people who love secondhand or have a sustainable mindset. With Marie Kondo, we created a variety of tutorials for every Barilla box to show people how easy it is to adapt to a more eco-friendly shipping habit. The tutorials were shared on Barilla’s and Marie Kondo’s Social Media channels. Additionally, selected and relevant influencers actively spread the idea, while editorial outlets picked up the news. Site-specific banners on secondhand platforms engaged people when buying and selling pre-loved items online.The entertaining videos reached 115M people only in a few days.

Barilla showed secondhand lovers how easy it is to ship their pre-loved items with a pre-loved box and take another step towards a more sustainable living.

The campaign reached 115M people in less than a week - if all of them reused the Barilla box to ship, we could save 6B CO2 in a year. Ambassador Marie Kondo, all the KOLs and influencers from around the world supported the cause. Editorial outlets like Vanity Fair and culture sites like BuzzFeed deepened the positive impact that individuals can have on the planet, while slightly changing their shopping and shipping habits.

The conversations around the campaign were 92,5% positive, agreeing that everyone's contribution can start anywhere and that Barilla is a trustworthy partner in this journey.