This Apple Can Save The World
Winner: Woolworths SA
Award: Best Purpose-Led Campaign, 2025: Gold
“Creative and strategically strong campaign - beautifully crafted campaign that evolved to meet the target audience on their journey successfully - really shone a light on regenerative farming and the results show the impact on educating their customers and the positive move towards change in behaviour ”
Brief
“The climate crisis won’t generate a new wave of green consumers.”
When it comes to sustainability, consumers are faced with the “too” problem: too inconvenient and demanding, too impossible, daunting and big to overcome individually, too much greenwashing and too much conflicting information, too much mental strain, too many other more immediate things to be concerned about. They expect big brands to “take care” of this for them.
Our brand role is to remove the “too” problem out of sustainability by showing how we are taking care of the bigger picture for them.
At the heart of our brand is a deep-seated belief: the power of details. As the custodians of the soil, we perpetuate small positive acts, fully aware that they cumulatively form the keystones in building a future where sustainability is just how things are, not something big and nebulous.
We wanted to position Woolworths, through our Farming for the Future programme, as a challenger brand that leads the industry and consumers in adopting and adapting to eco-conscious practices. Supported by a media and content plan that allows for compelling, immersive storytelling that can highlight to consumers what a meaningful difference this makes to them, our country and the world.
Solution
Concept
“This Apple Can Save The World” is meant to be provocative, because how can it? This, combined with the organic futuristic blend of visuals, is purposefully constructed to grab the viewer’s attention and imagination. The humble green apple is a relatable object we’ve all held in our hand, it is real. As our centrepiece, it becomes a metaphor for both regenerative farming and the planet, and serves as a gateway to discover the unobserved details that Farming for the Future takes care of.
Interactive web app
Purpose: Education
The web app allows the user to experience and interact with four topics that constitute regenerative farming. Transporting the user to the farm, digging into the soil, zooming in to microscopic detail and in some cases even getting them to help make the right choices. Each topic is an interconnected world that the user moves through, each with its own memorable protagonist. Rather than just being told about it, the user discovers, learns and becomes part of the story. We designed the web app to be able to evolve as new practices, stories and discoveries emerge from our partner farms.
See for yourself: http://wooliesfarmingforthefuture.co.za/
2025: Bought social media
We evolved the campaign to meet our customers where they were paying attention, through content they had shown they want to engage with most.
We launched a content series in collaboration with knowledgeable influencers who are known for their vested interest in sustainability and trusted by their informed, engaged communities. Influencers visited our partner farms to better understand Farming for the Future in action, asking farmers the kinds of questions everyday people would. These visits were turned into compelling content based on their real conversations and learnings.
PR: Phase 1 - Apple crate unboxing content
Purpose: Awareness
Influencers received a physical drop, which consisted of a wooden, “farm-themed” crate with customised messaging and a QR code. Influencers could scan the QR code, laser-printed on the crate, which introduced followers to an interactive digital experience - further elaborated on in phase 2. The crate contained fresh Woolworths apples, as well as a plantable origami apple.
PR: Phase 2 - User and creator-generated content
Purpose: Education and utility of the web app
Influencers were tasked to educate their followers about the Farming for the Future campaign by taking them through the interactive digital experience. Additionally, they were tasked to create a dish/dessert with the apples they’d received - this recipe video sought to showcase the quality of Woolies apples.
PR: Phase 3 - Farm tour creator-generated content
Purpose: Awareness
We couldn’t take everyone to our farms, but we could take a select few influencers, who could in turn take our message to their audiences. To really immerse the influencers into the campaign, we invited them on a tour to one of Woolworths suppliers' farms. They spent a day with the farmers and our Woolies agricultural experts, where they were given the chance to understand the intricacies of the farmers’ techniques and values.
Results
Reach and awareness results achieved as of 14 April 2025:
KPIs paid social and display stats
Reach Target 19M Achieved 50.5M (266% of target)
Impressions Target 117M Achieved 344M (294% of target)
Views Achieved 215M / Completed 8M
Web app stats
Click-throughs Achieved 2M (438% of target)
Unique visits/users Achieved 848k
Events Achieved 5.4M Interactions like zoom in, rub tardigrade’s belly, tap on parts needing watering
Time on site 1 minute 6 seconds