The Campaign

We make plastic bag “Unforgettable” by turning something the world sees as rubbish into something worth keeping, creating a new life-saving habit for shoppers. This is about creating behavioral change on a mass scale. Instead of trying to change behavior by making shoppers feel guilty for forgetting their bags, we worked within the set of established ‘deal hunting’ behaviors of Malaysian shoppers, their love of rewards. And since the routine of using plastic bags rooted deeply in every Malaysian and it's still the most viable and friendly option compared to paper bag and cotton tote bag, we used plastic bag itself as our very key vehicle to drive a behavioral shift. We re-designed the existing Tesco reusable bag by adding a simple change, a barcode, we transform the bag into an ongoing discount, an incentive that ALL shoppers will chase after. Creating a rewards that actively changes behavior.

Creative Execution

We designed the Unforgettable bag to be a bag people WANT to carry. The barcodes are integrated into the form of the animals most at risk from plastics in the ocean, forming an attractive and very distinctive pattern. The design style is simple and cute - to appeal to the widest spectrum of customers from young to old. The Fish, Turtle and Whale - were extended as campaign characters throughout the store on multiple POS materials - Posters, Aprons, Checkout Banners, scanner wraps. At launch, an animated film, in our distinctive design style, helped launch the concept worldwide. Sold for 50 cents, the bag has an unlimited rebate of 20 cents. So users only have to re-use three times to be actually making a profit from their positive behaviour. The bags are made of recyclable material, replaced for free when worn out and recycled into new bags.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The average percentage of Tesco customers who re-use bags prior to the campaign was at 5%. Percentage of customers who re-use unforgettable bag after the launch reached up to 68% (average nationwide) within the 1st month of launch, making it 14x more effective in reducing single use of bags. (Source: Tesco Internal Data) The campaign was rapidly adopted nationwide to all 56 stores. At the current rate of redemption (reuse rate), across all 56 Tesco stores the unforgettable bag is estimated to saved over 5 million bags by the end of 2018. PR coverage for the launch spread instantly to over 70 countries, with over 500 articles and features, helping Tesco’s sustainability reputation worldwide. Internally the creative idea has been presented at Global board level – with UK, Thailand and India specifically requesting design and implementation plans to launch the bag in 2019.