Lidl wins / Lidl has approached a sustainability initiative with humour, wit and creativity: rather than lecture customers on the perils of plastic bags, it created a desirable piece of branded merch to challenge negative perceptions of shopping trolley bags. By focusing on ‘coolness’ over factors such as price, convenience or carbon footprint, Lidl appealed to customers’ taste instead of their moral compasses – the Lidl Cart presents the sustainable choice as a bit of fun, rather than a sacrifice. The item’s low price point is in line with the discounted prices Lidl is known for, and to further incentivise people to purchase the trolley, Lidl gave Lidl Plus App users a €5 discount. The campaign is a win-win – merch sales for Lidl, reduced plastic bag use, and a fun PR spike ahead of the Christmas food shopping season.
Nudge behaviour / All too often we see brands paradoxically creating more stuff in the name of sustainability – like selling limited-edition T-shirts where a portion of the proceeds go to an environmental charity. Obviously creating and selling more stuff isn’t going to do any good for the environment, but in this case, Lidl’s special trolley is about nudging behaviour change. By selling a few hundred trolleys, Lidl will hopefully make a small dent in plastic bag use, but the bigger ambition is to change perceptions of shopping trolleys generally. Recognising that uncoolness was a barrier to trolley use, Lidl created a catchy song, a tongue-in-cheek campaign film, and signal to all shoppers: shopping trolleys can be cool.
For more on best-in-class sustainability creative, check out our Best of Sustainability collection and our Trend on Selling Sustainability Better.
