Ad Net Zero Award nomination – Nexd x Convo x End Food Waste Australia

The Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards entries were declared open for submissions in March 2025.

As a tech partner, Nexd works with many agencies globally that work with amazing clients. For this award submission we had the pleasure of submitting the work done by Convo Media in Australia for the End Food Waste Campaign commissioned by the Australian’s government.

The subcategory the campaign was entered under was: Best Practice in Sustainable Ad Production (most innovative production using green tools) – EMEA (due to Nexd’s HQ being in Estonia)

Summary

The End Food Waste Australia campaign, built and served with Nexd’s low-carbon creative platform, proved sustainability and creativity can change behaviour and deliver results. Cutting data by 89% and avoiding 956 kg CO₂, it achieved 55–61% engagement and 15s dwell time – a cost-neutral, high-impact campaign redefining Ad Net Zero in action.

What Was the Goal of the Campaign?

Australia faces a mounting food waste crisis: 2.5 million tonnes wasted annually, costing households $19 billion and producing 3% of national greenhouse gas emissions. Funded by the Australian Government, End Food Waste Australia (EFWA) set out to reduce household food waste by 20% by 2030.

The objectives were to:

• Increase awareness and inspire measurable action toward food-saving habits
• Achieve measurable reductions in campaign CO₂ emissions
• Exceed digital benchmarks (target 9% engagement, 6s dwell)
• Remain cost-neutral while demonstrating leadership in sustainable advertising

The Campaign Strategy

Developed by Convo and Hopeful Monsters, the campaign replaced heavy HTML5 and video formats with Nexd’s lightweight, interactive creatives.  A key pillar of the campaign was to demonstrate that sustainable technology could actually drive, rather than limit, performance. Using GPU-accelerated WebGL rendering and proprietary compression, assets were compressed by 72%, cutting transferred data by 89% and avoiding 779 kg CO₂

A “nudge”-based behavioural media approach reached audiences in food decision moments – at home, in supermarkets, and online – through BVOD, digital, radio, and contextual OOH placements. Messaging (“Are you wasting more than you think?”) encouraged reflection and practical change.

The Creative Solution

The formats chosen to present the message in the digital channels were the Carousel Splitscreen and Train.

For the Train template clicking on the arrows, each slide gave helpful tips on how to reduce food waste, eg. “store food the right way”, “make most of leftovers” or “use the oldest items first”.

Each Train card led the user to a landing page showing specific ways to make the most of each recommendation – to use labels, containers, freeze certain items and more.

What Were the Results?

The campaign hit all it’s objectives! The results are shown by category below.

Audience Impact:

• 25% unaided campaign recall (up from 6%) after reaching just 30% of households.
• 89% of those exposed found it likable; 77% said it offered practical waste-saving tips.
• Intent to change behaviour increased by up to 56% across key actions.
• 90% agreed: “We all have a responsibility to end food waste.”

Media & Engagement Performance:

• 52% unique engagement (vs 9% benchmark) – 5-6x higher
• 12–13 s average dwell time (vs 6 s benchmark) – 2.5x higher
• 15% uplift in engagement vs previous EFWA campaigns
• Cost-neutral delivery; 40% faster production time.

Sustainability Results:

• 72% creative compression reduced transferred data by 89%.
• 956 kg CO₂ avoided – verified via Scope3 emission modelling (that’s equivalent to driving approximately 3027 km with your diesel car which is like driving from Tallinn to Athens)
• Convo has since embedded low-emission creative as its default standard.
• EFWA now mandates carbon reporting for all future creative work.

Public and Industry Reach:

• 1,000+ media hits, 85 million impressions, $2.6 million in earned value.
• Coverage across channels ABC, Nine, Ten, and Sunrise.
• Hundreds of councils and partners joined the movement.
  

Beyond awareness, The Great Unwaste sparked real behavioural change – saving food, money, and emissions while redefining sustainable digital advertising performance.

By proving sustainability amplifies engagement, End Food Waste Australia’s “Great Unwaste set a new precedent for environmentally conscious performance marketing – where measurable carbon savings, creativity, and ROI coexist seamlessly. This shows how digital campaigns themselves can reduce environmental impact, a transformation made possible by Nexd’s low-carbon creative technology.

The Ad Net Zero Award winners will be announced in London in the 13th of November 2025, wish us luck!