New Life for Old Clothes
Golden Award for Excellence 2019
Corporate Social Responsibility
Procter & Gamble (Ariel) & Graffiti PR
NGO Act for Tomorrow is constantly preoccupied to promote social responsibility and educate people on bettering their life quality in a way that preserves resources. A 2019 study on consumer behavior showed that we frequently wear on average only 20 of our clothes. Sounds wasteful, right? At the same time, textile waste is the 2nd biggest pollution source on the planet, while in Romania textile recycling infrastructure is a highly debated topic in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
So, when the NGO approached us, we knew it was an opportunity to help them support a sustainable future.
Ariel, no. 1 detergent in Romania, comes with the promise of keeping your clothes like new for longer, meaning 1. you can wear your clothes without fear of stains or aging signs and 2. you can buy fewer clothes.
Our objectives? Be the first detergent to tackle textile waste and create an exclusive Ariel – responsible habit link in consumers’ minds.
How?
We can’t build recycling infrastructure, but maybe we can “Robin Hood” the problem. Eurostat says 41% of Romanians live on the edge of poverty, so why don’t excess clothes get to them through donations? Clothing donation is regarded as complicated, but most people say they would donate had they had a simpler way. Say simple like a trip to the supermarket? Let’s turn supermarkets into clothing collection centers then! Under the “Give a new life to your old clothes. Donate them!” tagline we developed this vision where every trip to the supermarket would be an opportunity to donate.
Implementation:
We installed clothing collection boxes in 42 locations nationwide. With 3 tons of clothing in one week at an average of 10Kg per donation, it was clearly working. Next thing you know, all customers wanted in on the deal. Within 1,5 years we got from 42 stores to 600+ stores all over the country, plus 9 partner malls, in 3 seasonal donation waves.
Together with our NGO partner Act For Tomorrow, we collected, washed and distributed the clothes in the vulnerable communities mapped previously.