Rinse Recycle Repeat
The Rinse Recycle Repeat campaign embraced the challenge of communicating a simple but valuable action into a measurable display of behavior change by utilizing a grass roots approach for nationwide outcome coupled with the incentive of a $25k cash prize.
Member organisation WasteMINZ approached Motuihe Group with the opportunity to pitch a campaign idea that would raise awareness and encourage behavior change around recycling in New Zealand.
Recycling standards and practices very from council to council. So while something may be recyclable in Auckland, it can’t be in Christchurch. The campaign needed to be regulation agnostic as local councils would be reluctant to get behind a campaign that contradicted their existing messaging.
The Strategy
To realise our vision of a national, hyper local, social good campaign we simplified the message to “rinse, recycle, repeat”. Artwork and animations were created in bright simple olours that reinforced this main message while also subtlety demonstrating the types of commonly found household products that can be recycled.
To drive this message we launched a user generated campaign that empowered people from all across the country to share how they rinse, recycle, repeat. With a $25,000 cash prize offered, households, schools and communities across Aotearoa were very motivated to engage with the campaign and create their own entry.
We focused on 4 major content driven social media platforms: TicTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. To gain greater community engagement we promoted the competition at a grass roots level though social channels rather than running paid media placement.
To achieve this end we communicated the competition and messaging with multiple communities, covering all geographical locations by taking the message to the heart of any engaged community, the local Facebook Community Page.
Over 400 unique personalised campaign videos were created and distributed to Facebook Community Pages. These videos pitched the campaign, telling the story of the cost of contaminated recycling and the opportunity available to them.
Above: Example of personalized videos sent to Facebook Community Groups.
Tailoring each video to the specific Facebook page helped to organically grow the reach of the campaign.
Personalised invitations were also sent to every Mayor and Council throughout the country.
Above: Example of personalized videos sent to NZ Mayors.
The Outcome
Over 243 entries were recived during the campaign period that ranged from cute to hilarious and even dramatically moving.
Above: Highlights from some of the entries.
Sharing the motivation for the campaign as well as some of the early entries with various media outlets we achieved national coverage for not only the competition but most importantly the campaigns core messaging.
NewstalkZB discussed the topic of “do you clean your recycling” for an hour with callers engaging from around the country.
From The AM Show to Magic Talk to More FM, all discussed directly with their audiences the action of cleaning your recycling before it goes into your recycling bin.
The AM Show kindly agreed to announce the winners live on air at the end of the campaign playing the winning entry.
To address the challenge of apathy towards the topic of unclean recycling, we partnered with Eco Central in Christchurch to tell the story of the people who have to sort recycling and put a face to the problem.
Seven Sharp ended up carrying the story and showcased a relatable character that would best benefit from when people “Rinse, Recycle Repeat”.
Above: Seven Sharp story on the cost of dirty recycling.
The Winner
The $25,000 prize was won by Wainui Beach School in Gisborne.
Their entry was a collective effort by the whole school community with parents, teachers and students all helping out.
Their attention to detail to the campaign requirements, as well as their costumes and song contributed to them being judged the winner.
They used the prize money to upgrade their playground in 2022.
Above: The winning entry
