Nestlé is arguably one of the biggest names in breakfast.
Is there anything better than a good ol’ bowl of Cheerios in the morning? They’re a believer in great food that brings both communities and families together. They’re passionate about food that enhances lives. Food that’s amazing for both you and the planet.
Nestlé’s cereals depend on bees to be delicious. We actually all depend on our stripey little friends, with approximately 1 in 3 mouthfuls of food consumed by humans relying on our bees.
With this in mind, Nestlé wanted to give back to these buzzing heroes, and they wanted to give their customers the opportunity to help ‘Save the Bees’, too. By partnering with the Bee Friendly Trust, they launched a campaign with the aim of helping our lovely bees thrive.
As Nestlé said, it’s the “small things that make a big difference”. That’s what got Nestlé thinking, and an idea began to form, to germinate, if you will.
What do bees love most?
What do we need more of?
What’s something that both bees and humans would love equally?
That’s when an idea blossomed. Little seed packets that you could plant in your own garden! Bees rely on the nectar from plants in order to make their honey. And we rely on them to pollinate our fruit and veg.
It’s a win-win on all sides - for us, but most importantly, for the bees, too. 
A sticky situation
The challenge here was that we needed to be able to source and deliver seeds worldwide, which isn’t as straightforward as it used to be in a post-Brexit and Covid environment.
The main dilemma that we faced was that both DEFRA (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs) and APHA (Animal Plant & Health Agency) were writing new legislation that could possibly impact the project. We would have to keep up to date with all the legal legislature and make changes at a moment’s notice in order to get the green seal of approval for shipping internationally.
A tricky task, but one we were eager to take on for such a worthy cause!
A bee-utiful solution
As with all projects, excellent communication and speedy proactiveness saved the day!
As soon as it was announced by DEFRA and APHA that the seeds would need a seed passport number printed on every individual box, we immediately liaised with Nestlé’s design agency to re-work the artwork for the breakfast boxes to include this. This meant that the seeds were now able to travel internationally without any logistical headaches.
The bee’s knees
With over 90,000 seed packets produced and sent to several countries in Europe - from the far-flung reaches of Norway to right here in London, Nestlé’s Save the Bees campaign was a great success!
It’s helped to raise awareness of the challenges faced by bees, as well as being a great activity families can do together.
Toby Baker, Regional Marketing Director UKA at Nestlé Cereals said: “As a business, our promise is to make breakfast better as well as doing our bit to help protect the planet." It’s safe to say your daily bowl of Cheerios doesn’t just taste great, it’s doing great things, too!
And I think we can say, the bees were very happy, too! 
Bee-friendly merchandise solutions
If you’d like to explore more bee-friendly options for your own campaigns, we’d love to help.
Whether you’re ready to grow beyond this spring, or just looking for a little extra greenery to add to your campaign, we’ve got everything you need to help your brand grow!
Download your free Living Promotions brochure now, or get in touch for your free consultation with one of our Merchandise Consultants.
