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. By simply incorporating a barcode into the design of Tesco existing re-usable bag we transform the bag into an ongoing voucher, a consistent reward to help create a new behavior to reuse the bags that saves on the production of millions of single use bags.

Creative Execution

Sold for 50 cents, the bag has an unlimited rebate of 20cents. So users only have to re-use three times to be making a profit from their positive behaviour. The bags are made of recyclable material, recycled and replaced for free when worn out. Central to the design is a voucher barcode that is integrated into an animal shape - those most at risk from plastics in the ocean, forming an attractive and very distinctive pattern. 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. Rapidly deployed Nationwide, the initial run of 500,000 bags sold out in record time. A new batch has been ordered and the design will be used across all re-usable bag formats from Q4 2018.

Results

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 within a month of purchase is 68% Making the bag 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.

This is about creating direct behavioral change on a mass scale for shopper to reuse their plastic bags. Even if shoppers are aware of the importance to re-use their shopping bags, the problem is people either don't care enough, or they simply forget to bring the bags back. The campaign here is a simple change to the design that can transform the bag into a voucher - an ongoing reward that incentives a new life-saving behaviour for shopper. Using existing bags, existing barcode tech used by every supermarket, this innovation has huge behavioral impact at zero cost to the retailer.

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. To minimize cost and fast-track production, we transform the existing bag into an ongoing incentive that ALL shoppers will chase after. The bags become a bag that shoppers would never forget and never stop to reuse.