The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2024
Foodbag turns humblebragging into a campaign voice — beats every KPI, Gold Effie
Foodbag gave Belgians a word for humblebragging, driving +47% new customers and a Gold Effie 2025.
Foodbag (Colruyt Group)
What it had to solve
Foodbag, the Belgian meal-kit pioneer owned by Colruyt, faced global players like HelloFresh whose market value was declining. Its customers loved it so much they spontaneously defended the premium price — and around half of them had first heard of Foodbag from friends or family. The job was to give satisfied customers a reason to talk, and a way to do it that felt Belgian.
How it works
In 2024 the meal-kit market was under pressure: global operators like HelloFresh saw their market value slide, while Foodbag — the Belgian meal-kit pioneer, by then part of Colruyt — set itself a growth plan of +20% revenue, +25% new customers and +35% more web traffic. Research pointed at the lever: customers weren't just satisfied, they spontaneously defended Foodbag's premium price, and around half of all customers had first heard of the brand from friends or family.
Joe Public & Springbok Belgium built the campaign 'Opscheppen met Foodbag' around the double meaning of opscheppen — literally serving food, figuratively showing off. The strategy was humblebragging: a subtle self-promotion in which good news is shared in a modest, likeable way, tapping the legendary Belgian dislike of bragging. Media integrations bought awareness, local-Belgian-recipe content and cooking-influencer collaborations built preference, and every execution gave customers an excuse to boast while apologising for it.
The numbers beat every objective: revenue +35% (target +20%), new customers +47% (+25%), website visits +46% (+35%), order frequency +5% among existing customers, and a return on campaign investment of 1:4.74. For two-thirds of new customers, friends and family had been the most important source of information — the campaign had fed the channel it was trying to grow. By the end of 2024 growth was so strong that Foodbag's production capacity was maxed out, and in 2025 the work won the Gold Effie for Brand Image at the Effie Awards Belgium.
Why it lands
- It made the customer the campaign: instead of Foodbag claiming quality, satisfied customers performed the bragging themselves — which a modest culture is willing to accept from other people.
- The wordplay carried the whole idea: one word meaning both serving food and showing off threaded through ads, media, content and the eventual case book.
- It fed the exact channel it measured: with friends and family the top source of new customers, the KPI and the mechanism were the same thing, so growth was self-consistent.
- The premium positioning gave customers something concrete to be proud of — local ingredients and no subscription — so the bragging never felt hollow.
What it did
Revenue grew +35% against a +20% target; new customers +47% against +25%; website visits +46% against +35%; existing customers ordered +5% more often; return on campaign investment was 1:4.74. Friends and family were the most important information source for two-thirds of new customers in 2024, and growth got so strong that maximum production capacity was reached by the end of the year. The campaign won the Gold Effie (Brand Image) at the Effie Awards Belgium 2025.
What you can take
When your product is genuinely loved, don't advertise your own praise — give customers a socially safe way to brag about you; the most marketable voice is the customer's, if you give it permission.
Since then
The 2024 campaign beat all KPIs: revenue +35% vs +20%, new customers +47% vs +25%, web traffic +46% vs +35%, order frequency +5%, ROCI 1:4.74. Growth hit production capacity. Won Gold Effie Belgium 2025 and became a reference for challenger strategy.
Sources
- Case Study Effie Awards 2025: how Foodbag won gold with 'Opscheppen met Foodbag'
- Opscheppen met Foodbag — Effie case 2025
- Effie Awards 2025: the winners are announced
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card