The Brief
ReLondon (formerly the London Waste and Recycling Board or LWARB) wanted to engage 16-24-year-old Londoners with the environmental issues posed by fast fashion and encourage them to consider more sustainable alternatives. The brief to Barley was to create a new campaign that would hold its own against the fast fashion messages which bombard the target audience.
The overall aim was for clothes to last longer by being re-used and recycled, diverting them from incineration and landfill.
Insights and Approach
We partnered with the ReLondon team to create a new brand. Working with our creative panel, we came up with the #LoveNotLandfill name and tested this with a focus group of our target audience. We knew we had to keep the campaign positive and engaging so we didn’t turn our audience off. Yet hrough polling we learned that this demographic throw away a staggering 35 million items of clothing every year.
Through a workshop with the team at LWARB, we developed brand messaging, values and tone of voice. We worked closely with designers to develop a fresh and energetic look and feel for the brand that would hold its own against the fast fashion brands bombarding the audience with ‘buy new’ messages.
A key element was to engage digital influencers who would resonate with 16-24-year-olds. Barley brokered a deal with anonymous street artist ‘Bambi’ to create a motif, used throughout the campaign. We developed a video featuring Bambi to promote Love Not Landfill’s new clothes banks in London.
The #LoveNotLandfill team ran workshops with London schools on ways to swap and restyle clothes. They also came up with three distinct public phases for the campaign, which were:
- A Swap & Style event at a textile recycling facility.
- Launching strategically placed #LoveNotLandfill clothes recycling banks.
- A pop-up shop on Brick Lane featuring second-hand clothing collections curated by fashion influencers.
Barley raised awareness of the events through listings and previews and targeted fashion vloggers and bloggers to drive people to the events through social media.
The Outcome
The campaign generated extensive media coverage. This included top-tier media such as The Sun, Sunday Mirror, ITV London and BBC Radio London, and in-depth features in MailOnline, Marie Claire and Huffington Post.
On social media, campaign messages have so far been shared by over 700 contributors, securing a combined reach of over 2.4 million. The campaign video received over 90,000 views.
75 representatives from the media, brands, influencers and charities attended the pop-up launch. 2000+ people visited the pop-up over four days and combined sales of pre-loved clothes reached approx. £15,000.
#LoveNotLandfill has captured the imagination of young Londoners, building strong followings and engagement on social media and at live events. The campaign has generated hundreds of pieces of high quality media coverage and spokespeople from ReLondon continue to be in demand for media comment and speaker slots at industry events.
Aligning it with the look of a fashion brand has also played well with retailers, leading to corporate partnerships with the likes of Top Shop, ASOS and Westfield. What was originally conceived as a year long campaign continues to attract funding and is now in its third year. One year after launch, independent evaluation found that over 60% of our target audience were aware of the brand and most had changed their behaviour.
101
m
opportunities to see/hear
2.4
m
reached on social media
90
k
campaign video views
2
k
pop-up visitors over four days
£
15
k
in pre-loved clothes sales
