The Economist offers consumers smoothies made from ugly produce

This week The Economist is launching a campaign encouraging consumers to try free nutritious smoothies made from fruit and vegetables destined for the rubbish bin.

Its ‘From bin to blender’ campaign has been devised by agency Sense, and forms part of the media brand’s  Discomfort Food experiential strategy designed to increase subscriptions through bringing its content to life in the real world.

A pop-up market stall will illustrate that ugly, discoloured or mis-shapen produce, which is rejected by supermarkets, can still be eaten.

“By challenging people’s perception about the food we throw away, this activity self-selects the globally curious consumer – just the kind of people who enjoy reading The Economist – increasing brand awareness and driving subscription sales at the same time,” explained Sense account manager Daniel Hennessey.

Supermarkets’ and consumers’ obsession with fruit and veg perfection is a key driver of the global food waste problem, with 600,000 tonnes of food thrown away each year in the UK by restaurants alone. Globally, 50% of all the food the world produces is wasted, yet one in nine people on earth don’t have enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. The ‘From bin to blender’ campaign is an innovative and engaging way to highlight both the issue and a solution.

“Serving waste-food smoothies gets people talking about important content from The Economist in an intelligent, approachable way,”” said Marina Hadyn, senior vice president, Circulation and Retail Marketing at The Economist. “We want to invite potential readers to learn that we don’t only cover economics, but also the issues that impact our future. This experiential activation will leave them not only with a fresh smoothie, but also a fresh perspective on The Economist.”

‘From bin to blender’ continues the highly successful series of experiential campaigns connecting issues close to the heart of The Economist directly with consumers in the real world to filter out those most likely to become subscribers. Over the past 12 months, this Discomfort Food strategy has generated in excess of 14,500 subscribers.

The campaign launched in Liverpool Street in the City of London on 16 June, and will run throughout June and July.