Mega Image packaged vegetables as superheroes and veg sales grew up to 300%

Romanian Health Ministry data put one in four kids overweight or obese; against shelves full of colourfully packaged sweets, Mega Image — one of Romania's biggest chains, part of Ahold Delhaize — wanted kids to pull their parents toward fruits and vegetables instead.

Eight of the most nutritious fruits and vegetables were repackaged in superhero costumes — a carrot became a rocket, an eggplant an astronaut, a cauliflower a sheep. A storybook of tales about each character accompanied purchases, helping parents turn healthy eating into an imaginative experience. Chief creative officer Catalin Dobre: the goal was kids dragging parents to the produce shelf 'just like they were doing until now in front of the sweets shelf.'

Fruit and vegetable sales increased up to 300% and in-store traffic rose 11%.

In 2017, Mega Image Romania and McCann Bucharest launched 'Veggie Heroes': special packaging that turned eight of the store's most nutritious fruits and vegetables into superheroes. A carrot became a rocket, an eggplant an astronaut, a cauliflower a sheep — costumes that, in the agency's words, draw kids like magnets toward the produce shelf.

The mechanic answered a public-health problem stated in Romanian Health Ministry data — one in four kids overweight or obese — against a sweets aisle that out-colours anything loose produce can manage. A published storybook with tales about each character travelled home with the vegetables, so parents could extend the heroes into mealtimes and make healthy eating an imaginative experience.

McCann Worldgroup Romania CCO Catalin Dobre summed up the reversal: all parents want to please their kids and buy what they ask for — 'but now they can do this while also making sure they eat healthy.' The result: fruit and vegetable sales up as much as 300% and store traffic up 11%.

Kids choose by character and colour, so the packaging arms the healthy shelf with the same pull as sweets.

The storybook extends each hero past the checkout, enlisting parents in turning dinner into imaginative play.

It is measurable persuasion in a health brief: sales up to 300% and traffic up 11%.

Don't fight the sweets aisle with warnings; steal its mechanics — characters, costumes, stories — and put them on the healthy option kids can hold.

The source records the campaign's sales and traffic lift; no later rollout is described.