Biscuit brand Belvita has partnered with food waste charity FareShare to help fight food insecurity and donate up to 100,000 meals to those in need.

Developed by the creative agency Elvis, ‘Give a Smile’ is led by a series of ads containing calls-to-action for viewers to donate to the campaign and ‘give a meal’ to help fight food poverty.

Running until October 30, the omnichannel campaign makes use of Ocean’s interactive audience detection technology to collect donations through registered ‘smiles’.

Managed by Ocean Labs, the DOOH activation is appearing across eight full motion small format city centre screens with high dwell times until September 24. These form part of Ocean’s The Loop networks in Manchester and Birmingham.

To trigger a donation, participants are invited to stand on vinyl floor markers and simply smile at the screens. This activates an on-screen actor who smiles back at them, together with a message explaining that their smile ‘just gave a meal to someone in need’. The DOOH screens include vinyl wraps with a QR code for participants to learn more about the initiative.

Belvita’s campaign is supported by further executions across video-on-demand, eCRM, paid social, in-store, influencer and PR channels. ‘Give a Smile’ will chiefly look to support the 13 million people in the UK struggling to afford food.

Elvis creative director Alexandru Vasile said: “We’re proud to unveil our first purpose-driven campaign for Belvita, showing how a small gesture like a smile can have a positive impact in the world, especially during challenging times.

“To launch this new platform and boost support for FareShare, we wanted to create something to make people feel good. From the casting to the music featured, everything about this work shouts positivity.”

More than 13 million people in the UK currently experience food insecurity, in one way or another. Belvita’s mission is to “use the power of positivity for a greater good” and help fight food poverty by donating meals to FareShare.

“At Belvita, we believe in the power of positive energy. It’s part of our brand ethos, where our nutritious wholegrains deliver positive energy. So, we wanted to use the power of positivity and raise donations to FareShare,” said Belvita brand manager Amy Lucas.

“We understand that even the smallest of actions – such as smiling at a stranger – can make their day that much better, which inspired us to use the power of a smile to spread positivity, ultimately helping others in need.”

“With media planning and buying handled by Publicis Media, the need for initiatives such as these becomes clear as FareShare reports that three million adults have gone without food for an entire day due to affordability or access issues,” she added.