The Hunger Ghrelins campaign aims to increase awareness of food insecurity and increase donations to Foodbank WA, whose purpose is to ensure everyone has access to nutritious food.

Right now, 1 in 5 Western Australians is facing food insecurity, and with the sharp increase in living costs, this number is predicted to rise.

This campaign takes the invisible feeling of hunger and brings it out into the open, making it very real for people who have never had to experience ongoing hunger.

Western Australia (WA) covers a huge area of 2.5 million square kms and is home to some of the most remote and isolated places in the world. With a diverse socio-economic mix, there is a big divide between the haves and have-nots. WA was particularly hard hit by the growing cost-of-living crisis at the time of this campaign launch.

National and WA State Government, and society as a whole, were becoming more and more reliant on non-profit organisations such as Foodbank WA.

In a heavily saturated charity market, competition for donations is fierce. Foodbank WA consistently requires creative ideas that cut through the clutter to make hunger feel real for people who have never experienced food insecurity.

Like most of the world, Christmas in Australia is a time when people indulge in feasting and discretionary spending on loved ones. Our campaign launch timing took advantage of this to drive empathy—we placed our donation-driving toy for Foodbank WA in supermarket shelves alongside Christmas treats to create maximum impact.

Foodbank WA’s activities in Australia play a key role in delivering on a number of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aimed at ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for all.

Every fundraising campaign created by Foodbank WA aims to make hunger feel real for those who have never experienced it, and to secure the donations it needs to provide meals for hungry Western Australians.

As a keystone fundraising campaign for Foodbank WA, The Hunger Ghrelins campaign is strongly aligned to the following three of the 17 goals:

5. Zero hunger - Everyone in Australia should have enough safe and nutritious food to thrive. It is recognised that achieving zero hunger is fundamental to building a better future for everyone.

1. No poverty - By providing essential food relief, Foodbank WA assists front-line charities to build the resilience of those in vulnerable situations.

10. Reduced inequalities - Overcoming inequality will help drive economic growth and is critical to achieving social cohesion, and decreasing political and social tensions.

Background:

Foodbank WA is Australia’s largest food relief organisation. Their team is dedicated to feeding people in need, no matter their situation, to end hunger in Australia.

Brief:

Increase awareness of food insecurity, drive donations and bring hope to hungry Western Australians. For this campaign, we needed to take up this challenge at Christmas – a time when many charities were competing for donations.

Objectives:

To raise donations to help feed Western Australians facing food insecurity.

Like most of the world, Western Australia is facing a severe cost of living crisis.

As many as 40% of West Aussies say they’re worse off than a year ago (Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural industries, April 2023.)

Surging property prices, increasing rent and living costs have pushed households to the brink.

Supermarket chains are posting record profits while many people struggle to cover the cost of groceries.

Interest rate rises and rent rises mean it's harder than ever for people to keep a roof over their heads, let alone consider food costs.

Against this backdrop, 4 in 5 Western Australian households are looking at ways to cut back their spending (CCIWA Consumer Confidence Survey 2023)

This meant The Hunger Ghrelins campaign needed to not only raise more funds to feed hungry West Aussies, but to ask for donations from people already feeling the pinch themselves.

Think of the last time you were hungry.

Did it feel like a creature grumbling in your tummy?

That feeling is caused by the hunger hormone ghrelin. You can’t see it, but you can feel it, and the more ghrelin released, the hungrier we feel.

Introducing The Hunger Ghrelins: The hunger hormones feeding hungry kids.

This is an educational, entertaining, and donation-driving campaign that brought conversations about the devastating physical and psychological effects of gnawing hunger out into the open.

We created a new toy, The Hunger Ghrelins, encouraging people to take the fight against hunger into their hands. This modelling dough kit could be purchased in the lead-up to Christmas. It was sold in supermarkets across WA and supported by OOH, radio, POS and a bespoke website.

Our target audience was broad: Western Australians who could afford to spare a few dollars for Foodbank WA at Christmas.

Every campaign we create for Foodbank WA aims to make hunger feel real for those who have never experienced it, so driving both understanding and donations.

But being a charity organisation reliant on fundraising, Foodbank WA did not have the luxury of a big budget or extensive time.

Without a traditional media plan, Foodbank WA needed an idea that would drive DONATION, CREATION, and ACTIVATION across multiple media platforms without relying on spend.

The Hunger Ghrelins toy allowed us to step outside of the traditional charity approaches and mediums, and instead to interrupt potential donors at the point they were purchasing their own food.

The campaign launched with an e-commerce microsite, supported by OLV, radio, OOH, bus-backs, social media and a PR campaign picked up by news publications, mummy-bloggers and politicians.

A partnership with major supermarket chain, IGA, saw The Hunger Ghrelins kits stocked in 11 stores across WA. Perth’s premier educational science toy store, Scitech, also stocked the kits, with 100% of sales going to Foodbank WA.

Several hands-on activations were run in the lead-up to Christmas to amplify the campaign. Here West Aussies were encouraged to make their own Hunger Ghrelins using the modelling clay and googly eyes kit, and importantly, share their creations on socials. Around the activations, QR codes linked to the microsite to maximise donation opportunities.

Activations ran across WA in shopping centres of retail groups Hawaiian and Vicinity, plus in four corporate building foyers in Perth’s CBD, in partnership with Dexus, Australia’s leading commercial real estate group.

The Hunger Ghrelins campaign results have been beyond expectation.

Like all Foodbank WA fundraising campaigns, the critical objective was raising money to feed the hungry. The Hunger Ghrelins allowed Foodbank WA to provide 1.5 million meals to Western Australians over the campaign period. This was a 36% increase on donated meals from the previous year and is directly contributing to the UNSDG of Zero Hunger.

The campaign also helped to raise awareness of the plight of food-insecure Western Australians with estimated potential reach at 15.8 million people (PR Company). Given the population of Western Australia is only 2.7 million, the Hunger Ghrelins message spread far and wide. This result demonstrates how The Hunger Ghrelins is contributing to the UNSDG of Reduced Inequalities, helping to decrease social tension through raising awareness.

The campaign produced a 3188% return on investment for Foodbank WA, on a total campaign budget of AUD $22,808.

Our ongoing strategy to educate people on the unseen effects of hunger is key.

With food insecurity predicted to grow, it’s never been more important for all members of society to understand the devastation ongoing hunger brings.

Donations help feed people today, but continued education is critical to drive larger scale organisational and societal shifts. Campaigns like The Hunger Ghrelins are helping this.

Despite its tiny budget and just 3 months into launch, this campaign has demonstrated its ability to educate plus drive awareness and donations.

We’ve achieved this by putting the fight against hunger into the hands of individuals, amplifying conversations in homes, schools and workplaces, and garnering PR to engage larger proportions of society.

We’re presently in talks to expand The Hunger Ghrelins’ world next year. These include collaborations with production companies over film options, and a potential collaboration with a major toy manufacturer for 2025.

All paper and board stock used in printing for The Hunger Ghrelins packaging and displays was recycled paper stock. The Hunger Ghrelins toy pack was printed on a 450gsm Eclipse Greyback stock – an FSC certified stock, made with 100% recycled fibres.

While the container for The Hunger Ghrelins modelling dough is plastic, this was a choice made to keep the dough fresh, allowing consumers to continue to use the dough over and over again, thus avoiding single-use plastic.