BLACK SUPERMARKET

TitleBLACK SUPERMARKET
BrandCARREFOUR
Product/ServiceCARREFOUR
Category B01. Brand-led Education & Awareness
Entrant MARCEL Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation MARCEL Paris, FRANCE
Production NIGHTSHIFT Paris, FRANCE
Production 2 DMBM Paris, FRANCE
Production 3 ICONOCLAST Paris, FRANCE
Production 4 PRODIGIOUS Paris, FRANCE
Production 5 GUM Paris, FRANCE
Additional Company CARREFOUR Paris, FRANCE
Credits
Name Company Position
Philippe Thobie Carrefour Advertiser Supervisor
Laure Lamoure Carrefour Advertiser Supervisor
Jennifer Peyre Carrefour Advertiser Supervisor
Anne de Maupeou Marcel Creative Chairman
Dimitri Guerassimov Marcel Chief Creative Officer
Fabien Teichner Marcel Chief Creative Officer
Gaëtan du Peloux Marcel Creative Director
Youri Guerassimov Marcel Creative Director
Antonin Jacquot Marcel Copywriters
Clément Sechet Marcel Art Director
Sophie Larivière Marcel Art Director Assistant
Eulalia Bartolomeu Marcel Digital Art Director
Christian Verger Publicis Communications CEO
Pascal Nessim / Charles Georges Picot Marcel CEO
Aurélie Fossoux Marcel Account Supervisor
Noëlla Neffati Marcel Account Manager
Olivia Baranes Marcel Assistant Account Manager
Claire Sioufi Marcel Project Manager
Nicolas Levy Marcel CSO & Managing Partner
Sarah Lemarié Marcel Strategic Planner
Julien Petit Marcel Social Media Manager
Karine Pouessel / Mathieu Andrieu Marcel Model Makers
Corine Guedj Prodigious Stunt Producer
Gaël Cheval / Elise Gangneux Prodigious Producer / Production Manager
Eric Fenot - Photographer
Edouard Le Scouarnec Iconoclast Director
Manon Leurent Iconoclast Producer
Amine Ketem Iconoclast Production Director
Zoé Sassier / Alice Syrakvash NightShift Editor / Grading
Nicolas Levy / Jonathan Malnoury Marcel Music

Describe any restrictions or regulations regarding Healthcare/RX/Pharma communications in your country/region including

It is a campaign for public health, to change a European law regulating our food. No restrictions concerning healthcare or Pharma communications applied.

Describe the target audience and why your work is relevant to them. Pharma audience types:

In Europe, we are suffering an aberration. While doctors say that good nutrition is the best preventive healthcare, Europe regulates against products that would be better for the health of consumers, farmers, and future generations: organic Farmers’ varieties. We have decided to go outside the law to change it.?

Background

Better health starts with better food. But in Europe, we suffer from an aberration. The EU advises to eat more fresh and varied organic products, but legislates against organic farming biodiversity. Indeed, in Europe people have access to only 3% of existing cereals, vegetables, and fruits.The other 97% (two million varieties) are illegal, as producers can only sell what is registered in the Official Catalogue of Authorized Species, defined by the agrochemical lobby. These two million varieties are « Farmers’ varieties », the ancestral varieties of our grand-parents. They’re naturally richer in nutrients, taste, and they’re naturally better suited for organic production. But only hybrid, pesticide-resistant seeds - patented by the agro-chemical industry - are authorized. Carrefour - European retail leader and defender of better food for better health - decided to use its leadership power to change the law for the reauthorization of farmers’ seeds for organic production.

Describe the creative idea

Carrefour launched the Black Supermarket, a campaign that defies the law to change the law. Illegal Black Supermarkets were created in Carrefour’s stores nationally to sell our illegal range of cereals, vegetables, and fruits. We asked people to join the cause by buying the illegal products in our stores and by signing our petition on Change.org to change the law. Print, outdoor, web films and our instore BlackSupermarket installations revealed the absurdity of the law, and turned our illegal producers into national heroes. Against the law, we signed a 5-year supply contract with them, and invited key opinion leaders to witness the signature. Against powerful lobbies, we chose the illegal path to make sure we’d be heard by key opinion leaders, the public, and politicians up to Brussels where decisions are made. It was the first time a retailer broke the law to make it change.

Describe the execution

The campaign prelaunched on September 19th, with an « illegal dinner » inviting KOLs to discover the illegal varieties, witness the signature of the illegal 5-year supply contract with our producers, and donation of 1Million€ for farmers’ seeds preservation. We launched our change.org petition during the event, so KOLs would be the first signatories and first to share the petition. It rallied powerful ambassadors: journalists, chefs… to fuel the conversation. On September 20th, our BlackSupermarkets opened in our stores nationally. It was the best media to allow consumers to taste these delicious illegal products and understand the issue, thanks to our spectacular herbariums that staged 600 forbidden varieties. The petition was key to attract journalists’ and politicians’ attention, so all digital buys drove to it. To make sure politicians could not forget us, we illegally posted our prints near places of power such as the National Assembly.

Describe the strategy

The greatest threat to public health is ignorance. If nobody knows, nobody cares, and lobbies can continue to pass laws in the shadows. After 40 years of prohibition, dozens of draft laws to reauthorize farmers’ seeds had already been rejected, in the indifference of the media. We knew we needed a plebiscite to bend the political agenda. Our approche was to go outside the law publicly to expose this aberration, and rally consumers, KOLs and the media behind our cause. Our strategy was to use our first media - our stores, with 3 million shoppers daily - to both create a national debate and maximise the exposition of our campaign among our clients; while coordinated media buys on social and digital drove to our change.org petition. To get maximum awareness, we launched our BlackSupermarkets during the French National Food Forum, a major government summit reuniting politicians and the food industry.

List the results

The BlackSupermarket hacked the conversation on the French National Food Forum and generated a national debate. Every eveningnews and major newspaper covered the campaign (France 2, M6, LCI, Libération, Marianne, Les Echos, Le Parisien…). Public figures joined our fight, even the worst critics of the retail industry. The campaign generated 300M+ earned media impressions. It was impossible to ignore the issue anymore. The Public was baffled to discover this absurd law. They bought the illegal goods en masse (our maximum of 70tons, because of scarce illegal supply) and signed our petition (+ 85000 signatures). Finally, public mobilization changed the law. On April19th 2018, the European Parliament ratified a new regulation on organic agriculture (Procedure 2014/0100(COD)) reauthorizing sale and cultivation of farmers’ seeds, now recognized as our agricultural heritage, essential to biodiversity and public health. It will apply in2021, after 40years of prohibition. BlackSupermarkets will remain open until then.