We live in an age with so much advertising onslaught in our field of vision, that even exciting brand ideas can get lost in the noise. In the race to be noticed/funded, brands are only ending up trying to be bigger, better, faster, hotter, or any other '-er' word you can think of.
And every once in a while, an organisation comes by, with a fascinating idea and its heart in the right place. And we, at People Design & Communications, are lucky that they came by, in our general direction.
MonkeyBox - a simple, powerful idea:
MonkeyBox was born out of the idea that parents as much as they desire, find it really difficult to make school lunches healthy & exciting for the kids. MonkeyBox is a revolutionary service that plans and prepares delicious, nutritious food for children, and delivers them to kids at school. With a team of nutritionists, 5-star chefs & experts from the restaurant business, MonkeyBox, as a brand was clear about the strengths & the value they had on offer.
The Communications Challenge:
The most enduring, evocative communication campaigns are built on consumer insights. And with a service like MonkeyBox, we had to sit down and observe how the parents & school kids experienced MonkeyBox.
Sidestepping the Startup Cliche:
We had to steer clear of "selling" the brand benefits. Startups usually fall into this trap - of assuming the consumer would want a product/service merely because it didn't exist before. That hardly happens. A brand becomes relevant only when it fits into an existing consumer need.
The Breakthrough:
MonkeyBox had already begun operations in South Bangalore, fine-tuning the process of preparation & delivery. It was ideal, because it gave us an opportunity to talk to parents & kids, and understand how MonkeyBox mattered to them. And we did it over time.
The curiously consistent feedback we heard from almost all parents was that they wished MonkeyBox wouldn't make & deliver food only to school kids, but to adults too. What this meant was:
1) The kids were loving the food they were eating, AND were talking about it at home
2) Parents clearly were curious about the food, even as they had access to the menu, detailed descriptions & nutritional info
3) Kids were enjoying showing-off this service that was off-bounds even for their parents.
4) Parents were more trusting of MonkeyBox, now that the food had passed the litmus test of their kids.
The People Design & Communications Campaign:
MonkeyBox is a specialist in preparing healthy, yummy meals for kids and delivering them to school. Only. So the only way to eat a MonkeyBox is if you were in school, and were....a child.
Therefore: