"Les Legumes Moches" is one of the most successful campaigns fighting against food waste.

1. www.theazores.ro | Green opportunities that matter
Marketing & CSR
Les Legumes Moches

2. Farmers put aside 40% of the quantity they produce because of the standards imposed by
supermarkets regarding the shape of fruit and vegetables.
Intermarche, a French food retailer, launched the campaign “Les Fruits et Legumes
Moches” (Inglorious fruit and vegetables) to create awareness for food waste by promoting
“ugly” fruit and vegetables. The campaign had a huge success owing to the fact that it used
good humor and witty storytelling without being preachy.

3. The campaign was developed by Marcel, an advertising agency based in Paris. It took
place in an Intermarche supermarket located in Provins, 90 km from Paris. On March 21st
and 22nd 2014 the “ugly” fruit and vegetables got their own aisle. These misshaped
products were sold with a 30% discount. Marketing the campaign was quite intense:
everywhere in the store and around it, in local media, in social media and to bloggers.
The entire stock was sold out in two days and supermarket traffic increased by 24%. The
media frenzy that followed at national and international level was even more remarkable.
What Intermarche made was a sort of “Mea culpa” by trying to promote the fruit and
vegetables that they had refused in the past. It was a perfect CSR fit: a congruence
between a social issue and the company’s core business. And it worked. Now they are
looking to expand the program to all 1.474 supermarkets. Moreover, 5 of their main
competitors have already launched simmilar campaigns.
In this case study you will find an analysis to gain a better understanding of what made
this campaign succesful.
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Campaign Synthesis
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4. 1. The problems raised by food waste
2. Intermarche’s approach to CSR
3. Campaign’s objectives
4. Campaign’s strategy
5. Executional elements
6. Results
7. Keys to success
8. Analysis: SWOT and Marketing Mix
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Case Study Contents
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5. It is estimated that over 100 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in EU. That means
that each EU citizen wastes in average 200 kg of food every year.
According to the European Commission, every 1 EUR spent on food waste prevention will
have provided:
• 265kg food waste prevented, with a value of 535 EUR;
• 9 EUR of municipal waste costs are saved;
• 50 EUR of economic savings linked to environmental costs associated with
GHG emissions and air pollution.
One of the factors recognized by the European Commission that contributes to food waste
are the high quality standards for produce sold by retail. That is why creating awareness
about food waste should be widely acknowledged and acted upon by supermarkets. For
more information on food waste in EU please refer to the European Commission's Impact
Assessment (IA) on measures to address food waste.
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Food waste in the European Union
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6. Fact: We throw away 1/3 of all the food we produce.
(UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation)

7. Company profile
Intermarche is a French retailer, part of the groupe “Les Mousquetaires”, 3rd biggest food
retailer in France with sales amounting to 37 billion EUR in 2013.
CSR at Intermarche
The company has publicly committed to address 10 areas that they consider the most
relevant for their type of business. Reducing food waste is one of these material aspects.
Other relevant areas include: Selling products with nutrition labelling, Supporting
French SMEs by developing private brands with them, 100% of their products are non-
GMO, Sensitising children to sustainable development and 100% of the milk under their
own brand “Paturages” comes from pasture lands in France.
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Intermarche’s approach to CSR
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8. Stakeholders are defined as “entities or individuals that can reasonably be expected to
be significantly affected by the organization’s activities, products, and services “
(GRIG4 Reporting Guidelines)
The primary stakeholders impacted by this campaign are customers and suppliers.
The customers were offered the possibility to buy cheaper fruit and vegetables that
were as safe for their health as the nice-looking ones. The suppliers were finally able
to sell the fruit and vegetables with irregular shapes, that otherwise wouldn’t have
been accepted by retailers.
A secondary stakeholder impacted is the community , since one of the campaign’s
objectives was to create awareness for food waste and thus contribute to reducing it.
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CSR Elements: Material Aspects and Stakeholders
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9. Economic aspect: The direct economic interest was about how turnover and traffic increased
during the campaign. In terms of indirect economic interest the company aimed at creating a
positive brand image and also at supporting their suppliers by buying products that would
otherwise be wasted.
Legal aspect: The European Commission has an aspirational target of reducing edible food
waste by 50% until 2020 in EU. Retailers are recognized as being an important potential
contributor to this target, taking into account that they are visited by thousands of customers
every day.
Ethical aspect: 870 million people go hungry every day, according to UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO). By taking only this number into consideration, wasting food
because of innapropriate practices is a big loss. Only in EU we waste around 100 million tones
every year. That means almost 200 kg per capita.
Environmental aspect: Food waste worsens GHG emissions. According to UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food wastage across the world (totalling 1.3 billion tonnes of
food annually) is the largest source of GHG emissions after China and the USA.
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CSR Motives
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10. Green opportunities that matter
To create awareness for food waste by promoting misshaped fruit and
vegetables
To provide support for farmers who lose up to 40% of their production due to
high standards imposed by retailers for fruit and vegetables
To demonstrate Intermarche’s commitment to acting responsibly and
reinforce its CSR strategy
Campaign Objectives
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11. At the heart of the “Les legumes moches” campaign, Intermarche needed a creative idea that
would engage and entertain customers without being preachy.
On one side there was the real-world problem of food waste that was difficult to tackle and on
the other side there was Intermarche’s commitment to sustainable development. But other
retailers had tried it before. What exactly made this campaign succesful?
It seems that one of the key ingredients was the humorous storytelling. The messages were
funny and catchy. The fruit and vegetables became characters and their conversations were
centered around the idea that they are very tasty despite their irregular forms. For example,
The Ridiculous Potato - was elected Miss Mashed Potato or The Ugly Carrot- in a soup, who
cares?
Another succesful ingredient was the intense communication. The Marketing Director of
Intermarche recognised that promoting the campaign was intensified to make the message
heard as if it were something important the customers needed to know. Billboards showcasing
“ugly” fruit and vegetables were placed in-store from floor to ceiling, in the parking lot, on
the trolleys, in local publications and on social media platforms.
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Campaign Strategy
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19. Green opportunities that matter
Message content: It was aimed at promoting non-calibrated fruit and vegetables that
are as tasty as nice-looking fruit and vegetables
Promotion: Selling the ugly fruit and vegetables with a 30% discount.
Channels to communicate: In store from floor to ceiling, on the trolleys, radio stores,
around the store in the parking lot, in local newspapers, on social media platforms and
to journalists and bloggers.
Activity in the shop: The clients were offered for free soup and juice made of “ugly”
fruit and vegetables so they can see they taste good.
Performance indicators : Supermarket traffic, sales, mass media coverage and social
media engagement.
Costs: 3000 EUR for the prints and media promotion.
Executional Elements
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20. The special aisle showcasing “ugly” fruit and vegetables. Billboards
with funny messages were highlighted in the shop so that they were
visible to every customer that entered the shop. 20

21. “I am ugly, come and taste me”. A temporary stand was put into
place where customers could taste juice and soup made of these
famous products. Customers were offered 160 litres of carrot soup
and juice obtained from pressing 500 kg of “ugly” oranges.

22. Comunicare
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Intermarché stores were rebranded “inglorious”, with in-store
advertising spread from floor to ceiling.

23. Even at the cash point there were messages showcasing the ugly fruit
and vegetables.

24. 100% of the “inglorious” fruit and vegetables were sold (a total of 1.200kg in 2 days)
24% increase in supermarket traffic
300% increase in mentions of Intermarché on social networks during the first week.
21 MILLION people reached by the campaign after one month
1st most shared article in the history of LSA, no. 1 professional French retailer magazine
Prizes: Le Grand Prix ”Stratégies de la publicité” 2014 and ”Non Traditional Grand Prix”
at the London International Awards
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The Results: A complete success
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25. Creating awareness for food waste without being preachy
Using good humour and witty storytelling to highlight the message that “ugly” fruit
and vegetables were as good as nice-looking ones
Intense communication of the campaign that drew considerable attention on the
conversation of food waste
A strong connection to a current problem in terms of sustainable development (food
waste)
Discounted products by 30%
The performance could be measured by using quantifiable indicators (turnover,
supermarket traffic, media coverage, social media engagement)
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Keys to success
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26. Green opportunities that matter
Campaign analysis: SWOT and Marketing Mix
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27. • Selling a low-cost category of products
(30% cheaper)
• Authenticity of messages and photos used
for promotion
• Responsible buying and strengthening the
collaboration with local suppliers
• Intense marketing to sensitise clients in
reducing food waste
• Difficulties to change perception and
buying behaviour
• Short range of products, suitable only for
short term campaigns
• Selling only seasonal products, not much
product variety
• Enhance the image of responsible
company
• Contributing to reducing food waste in the
supply chain
• Development of responsible purchasing
and consumption patterns
• Increase turnover for fresh fruit and
vegetables
• A media frenzy of publicity and free
• The campaign can be easily imitated by
other retailers
• It can be perceived as an action to cover up
from a recent bad buzz concerning
Intermarche regarding irresponsible
sourcing of fishery products
• Difficulties to anticipate volumes for going
mainstream
S
O TOpportunities Threats
WeaknessesStrengths
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28. Product
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Misshaped fruit and vegetables.
The products were sold with a 30% discount in comparison
with nice-looking fruit and vegetables. This was without
decreasing the profit margin since buying these products
from suppliers was cheaper than buying standard products.
The products were showcased in a special aisle in the store
so that it was visible to most clients.
Promoting this campaign was quite intense. Messages were
displayed everywhere in the store, on billboards, on the
trolleys, at the cash points, on the store radio and even in
the parking lot. The campaign was also announced in local
newspapers, on social media platforms and to journalists and
bloggers.
Price
Placement
Promotion
Marketing Mix
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29. The Azores is a Sustainability and CSR Agency located in Bucharest, Romania.
We believe that companies can be more profitable while limiting their
environmental footprint and supporting their communities.
With us, it’s all about SMART CREATIVE CSR. We exist to make our clients more
succesful.
www.theazores.ro | Green opportunities that matter
Who we are
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30. Thank you!
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The Azores
Sustainability and CSR Services
Str. Mendeleev, Nr 17
Sector 1, Bucuresti, Romania
Phone: +40 773 716 924
Email: office@theazores.ro
www.theazores.ro
Les Legumes Moches - Case Study
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