Charity the Food Foundation and its communications arm Veg Power, which are both funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, are to launch of a new UK wide campaign in November, as part of plans to get Brits eating more beans, pulses and legumes.
Leading the campaign will be Ark, the strategic and creative agency which has scooped the account in a competitive pitch. It is the agency’s second win in a week after it also landed the Loveholidays business.
The Food Foundation and Veg Power have a strong track record of driving national change through food. Their Eat Them To Defeat Them (pictured) and Peas Please campaigns have already delivered 1.1 billion additional portions of veg in the UK and has reached 36 million people since 2019.
A new coalition of organisations will be coming together to help tackle the UK’s health and environment challenges through one humble hero: beans.
Calling on chefs, retailers and manufacturers, wholesalers, caterers, schools, youth organisations, community groups and local councils to join the bean revolution, The Food Foundation and Veg Power will be tasking Ark to help put more beans on menus and in stomachs.
The campaign will also be partnering with Beans Is How – a global coalition aiming to double the global consumption of beans by 2028.
Food Foundation senior food business transformation manager Rebecca Tobi said: “Beans are the ultimate superfood. A win-win-win when it comes to health, environmental and affordability goals. We’re incredibly excited to be kicking off this three-year programme of work thanks to the support of the National Lottery and to be partnering with Ark on the creative campaign.
“With rapidly rising levels of diet-related disease in the UK, and the impacts of climate change increasingly being felt, now is the perfect moment to boost bean consumption.
“Beans should be seen as a hero food for all businesses looking to meet Net Zero goals and cater to rising consumer demand for healthy, affordable foods. We’re eager to work with Ark to ensure beans are much more visible, appealing and available in supermarkets and on menus.”
Ark founder Mat Goff added: “I’ve had the privilege of working up close with The Food Foundation and VegPower before, so I know the kind of behaviour change they deliver. This new challenge is exactly the sort that we founded Ark to address and the chance to work with the team again was almost too good to be true.
The Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign sets a very high bar in terms of marketing effectiveness, but records are there to be broken. We are looking forward to getting the whole nation inspired to eat more beans.”
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