Onwards and upwards.

McKim’s first campaign for the Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) had yielded incredible results and put the organization back on pace to reach its ultimate goal of a minimum 75% recovery in Manitoba. But, even with this early success, CBCRA could not rest on its laurels. To keep increasing recovery habits, McKim and CBCRA needed to introduce a new message to the market — or risk audience fatigue and indifference to the previous call to action.

What they told us: There’s confusion around specific container types

In addition to the risk of fatigue, research was showing varying levels of recovery for different container types, and in different communities. For example, Manitobans widely understood that aluminum cans and plastic bottles were recyclable, but audiences were less sure about glass bottles, juice boxes and gable top containers, and the lower recovery results for these container types reflected that confusion.

We also observed some specific patterns in different communities across the province: in northern communities, glass bottles recovery was particularly low; in southwest communities, juice boxes showed lower recycling recovery.

What we saw: A unique opportunity to segment messaging

Closing these perceived knowledge gaps became the key focus of the campaign: we aimed to raise recycling recovery for less-recycled items, while maintaining the high recovery for others. So, in contemplating our strategy, we considered what beverage each container type was most often associated with. Aluminum cans are closely aligned with pop. So are plastic bottles, but increasingly, they’re more associated with water and energy drinks. Glass bottles, Tetra-style packs and gable tops are most often associated with juice.

This division of products led to two opportunities for audience segmentation, which we used to inform our creative approach. First, the target audiences for different beverage types, also differ. Young people are more often consumers of energy drinks; children and parents are a prime audience for juice; and adults are more likely to drink diet soft drinks.

Second, each of these beverage types has a marketing trope associated with it. Bottled water is often promoted by showing crystal-clear lakes and rivers. Energy drinks use high-intensity, upbeat messages. Soda is often a lifestyle brand. In other words…

Different people drink different drinks. 
And different drinks come in different containers.

While plainly obvious, this insight helped inform a creative strategy that would allow us to specifically target underperforming audiences and communities.