The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
PENNY reprices 9 foods at 'true costs' for a week — 2 Eurobest 2024 Grands Prix
PENNY sold nine foods at scientifically calculated 'true costs' for a week and donated the €370,000 surcharge, sparking a national food-price debate.
PENNY (REWE Group)
What it had to solve
Discount grocery chains compete on the lowest price, but the environmental and health damage of food production stays off the price tag. PENNY wanted to make those hidden costs visible and get Germans debating what food really costs.
How it works
PENNY, the discount arm of Germany's REWE Group, had been asking a question since 2020: what would food cost if the price tag included the environmental and health damage of its production? In late July 2023 it turned that question into a week-long national experiment.
Working with scientists from TH Nürnberg and the University of Greifswald, PENNY calculated 'true costs' for nine own-brand products across soil, climate, water and health. For one week, all ~2,150 German stores charged those prices: Vienna sausages rose from €3.19 to €6.01, mozzarella by 74%, fruit yoghurt by 31%, while the vegan schnitzel rose only 5%.
The retailer kept nothing: all €370,000 of extra revenue was donated to a project combining climate protection with family farms in the Alpine region. The campaign was deliberately framed as an experiment and a starting point for discussion, not a permanent pricing policy.
The result was a nationwide food-pricing debate — over 1,200 reports in national and international media, the #1 TikTok trend and 550M+ contacts reached. Eurobest 2024 gave the work two Grands Prix, for Creative Commerce and Print & Publishing.
Why it lands
- It used the price tag itself as the message, making the argument unavoidable at the checkout.
- University partnerships gave the price rises scientific credibility no marketing claim could match.
- Donating the surcharge made the campaign a stand, not a stunt: the retailer gained nothing financially.
- Concrete price jumps on familiar products made an abstract concept tangible to every shopper.
- Framing it as a one-week experiment invited debate instead of committing to unpopular permanent prices.
What it did
Over 1,200 national and international reports, the #1 TikTok trend and 550M+ contacts reached; a follow-up study found every second respondent more aware of food costs. The work won Creative Commerce and Print & Publishing Grands Prix at Eurobest 2024.
What you can take
A price tag can be the medium: a scientifically grounded, uncomfortable price creates news no paid campaign could buy — especially when the retailer donates the difference.
Since then
PENNY had previewed the idea at its sustainability store in Berlin in 2020 and scaled it nationally in 2023. The campaign's data became the basis for academic research on true-cost accounting and consumer acceptance of ecological pricing, and it kept being cited in European food-pricing debates. The two Eurobest 2024 Grands Prix (Creative Commerce, Print & Publishing) joined the campaign's industry recognition.
Sources
- Eurobest announces its Grands Prix, Special Awards and Young Creatives Competition winners for 2024
- PENNY launches campaign week on "true costs"
- German supermarket highlights climate costs by selling food at 'true prices'
- PENNY — True costs (campaign case)
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