Hellmann’s has launched a unique OOH campaign in partnership with the City of Peterborough, turning half of its waste collection vehicles into mobile ads.

The trucks carry a creative message claiming that the garbage truck residents see driving down the street is actually the country’s has become favourite food truck, as it helps to carry the 63% of edible food thrown away by Canadian households to landfills. On average, 58% of the food produced in Canada ends up being thrown away.

The literal roll-out of the ads coincided with Waste Reduction Week in Canada. The rest of the campaign is going to market this month, led by a new app called “Fridge Night” that will encourage Canadians to use up items in their fridge on a set “use up” day or Fridge Night. The app does this by offering an easy, scalable, digital solution to help Canadians be more resourceful with their food, reduce waste in the home and save money through food waste tips and meal inspiration. The “Fridge Night” app will be promoted via earned media and influencers, with additional social support from Hellmann’s owned channels.

Agencies supporting the campaign include Ogilvy and Edelman, who have also been behind Hellmann’s other efforts to combat food waste over the years.

The campaign is rooted in the results of a consumer behaviour study on household food waste conducted by Hellmann’s and Toronto-based behavioural scientists BEworks. The study found that Canadians can reduce household food waste by a third with just one “use up day” – using whatever leftover food they happen to have in their fridge – a week.

There are no plans at this stage to roll out the OOH beyond Peterborough, but Hellmann’s goal is to take learnings from this program to then approach other municipalities across Canada and drive awareness on a
national scale.