New customers.

The Salvation Army had never been on an aisle of the supermarket. When people attended grocery stores searching for some stuff for Christmas parties they had the need of buying garbage packs. Then the surprise was that inside those garbage bags they found an extra bag, not for throwing things away but instead to donate those things they didn't need.

Christmas always comes along with the buying frenzy: dinners, celebrations and lots of shopping and gifts.

Those of us who have plenty forget that there are many people who go lacking yet we end up throwing away so many things that we do not need. To raise awareness about this situation, the Salvation Army created a Red Bag, a bag for giving things and not for throwing things away. Thanks to help from Zesta, the number 1 company for garbage bag sales in the country, in December and January, the Red Bag became an extra bag that came free in all packages of the brand.

In the season of year when garbage bags have its sales peak, people found an easy way to donate things they didn't need.

After December 25, different municipalities in the country assigned trucks to go from door to door collecting bags for the Salvation Army.

Charities look very much the same and do very much the same. This was a fresh way to approach people somewhere they weren't expecting it.

The first step was the partnership Zesta, the #1 brand of garbage bags in the country.

After producing the bag we had the place it in supermarkets all over the country.

Then a campaign of outdoors, and PR joined the red bags inviting people to get ready their stuff for the trucks that went door to door or they could also bring them.

During December, the month in which all charities and foundations are asking for peoples help, the salvation army managed to increase them by 41%.

The Salvation Army is one of the most supported charities foundations around the world, however in Costa Rica they're not that known. For that reason the have a constant need of making low budget campaigns with the objective of collecting the major amount of stuff they can.

To that we have to add the fact that December is the most complicated month to ask for donations because most of the charities and foundations do that at the same time.