Nicole Drinkwater
CREATIVE DIRECTOR // COPYWRITER
Purpose Driven Campaign, Social, Print, Email
The Challenge: When COVID-19 came to the US, New York City quickly became the hardest-hit area. As Hellmann’s birthplace, the brand took to heart the impact the pandemic was having on their hometown and wanted to help. They saw many New Yorkers in need of food, while others had a surplus of food going to waste.
The Solution: With the world in crisis, Hellmann’s wanted to be a force for good and make a tangible impact. In partnership with Hellmann’s, my team and I developed a strategy to respond and lend authentic support, while staying true to the brand’s mission to reduce food waste. We established the Hellmann’s Food Relief Fund, a $1.25 million fund committed to helping those in need.
Awards: Shortlisted for Unilever Partner with Purpose Award for Social Impact
Our first action was feeding NYC hospital staff who were working tirelessly to save lives. As the city went into lockdown, many restaurants were struggling to stay afloat, and at risk of wasting thousands of pounds of food. We established a partnership with GrubHub to rescue food from these restaurants to feed frontline healthcare workers. By saving food that was going to waste, we not only were able to feed those in need but also provided support to struggling restaurants.
I put together a script for the case study video below. Over the course of a few days, I interviewed restaurant and health care workers who benefitted from the fund and worked with an editor to find footage and bring the video to life.
As the landscape evolved in the US, Hellmann's Food Relief Fund Expanded to support racial injustice. We shifted our focus to rescuing food from struggling Black farmers who were forced to throw away millions of pounds of produce due to COVID-related disruptions in the food chain and brought this food to food banks that were experiencing low inventory due to the increasing number of food-insecure Americans.
TV, print, social, and email marketing created awareness and drove people online to donate.
We created a website in partnership with Hellmann's and their food bank partner, East Side House Settlement, that allowed anyone who had the means to donate to the fund.
The Food Relief Fund's strategy and mission set up a sustainable platform for Hellmann's to help those in need through the lens of the brand's purpose and has enabled the brand to solidify a meaningful role in society.
To date, Hellmann's Food Relief Fund has:
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Supplied 30,000 meals to healthcare workers at three of the hardest hit NYC hospitals
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Supported more than 20 NYC restaurant partners in a time of dire need
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Saved more than 1 million pounds of excess food from struggling farmers
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Fed over 20,000 people in food bank reliant communities
These actions have been noticed beyond the immediate communities they served. generating over 175M+ earned impressions for Hellmann's and Unilever.
