Illuminating food insecurity at VIVID Sydney

THE CHALLENGE

Food insecurity is a hidden crisis, with one in three Australian households compromising on food or skipping meals. While Foodbank NSW & ACT operates as the region's largest food relief organisation - moving 12 million kgs of food annually - their spontaneous brand recall sits at a dangerously low 2%.

This isn't just a PR issue; it's a critical bottleneck limiting their ability to attract vital donations, food stock, and corporate partnerships. The challenge: develop a compelling creative platform defining Foodbank’s essential role, and bring it to life on a massive, undeniable scale as a charity partner at Vivid Sydney 2026.

THE CULTURAL TRUTH

Building brand awareness alone doesn’t improve understanding of the actual work being done.

Telling the public that Foodbank moves millions of kilos of food is just a statistic. To truly shift the dial on recognition and empathy, we couldn't just talk about the problem; we needed to make the invisible grid powering our food welfare system visible, tangible, and immediate. We needed to use the Vivid Sydney 2026 festival to let people physically interact with the sheer scale of the logistical effort required to feed the hungry.

EXECUTION

The centrepiece of the activation was the Foodbank 
Truck Packer: an interactive, gamified experience positioned right in the heart of Vivid Sydney.

Rather than simply asking for donations, we invited the public to step into the shoes of the logistics teams. Festival-goers lined up to race against the clock on a massive digital screen mounted to the side of a real Foodbank truck. The objective? A fast-paced pack-and-stack game where players had to fit as many digital grocery items as possible into the truck before time ran out!

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

With demand for food relief continuing to rise, the activation successfully turned a logistical reality into a memorable, hands-on experience for the public. It served as a powerful reminder that Foodbank NSW & ACT’s fleet travels more than 250,000km each year to deliver millions of kilos of food through their vast network of more than 700 community partners.