The EFMP’s Swiss partner, USP Partner, designed a certified carbon neutral experiential marketing activity to launch VALSER’S latest sustainable packaging innovation, a bottle made entirely from recycled materials. The campaign spread across Switzerland’s 5 major cities and encouraged customers to experience VALSERS’ sustainability firsthand. VALSER is already considered to be a sustainability pioneer because of their eco-friendly beverage production, and now they are the first Swiss mineral water brand to exclusively use PET bottles made from 100 percent recycled material (rPET). The label of the new VALSER bottles says it all when it states, appropriately, "Schön dich wieder z'gseh" which means “Nice to see you again”.

VALSER, a traditional Swiss brand, is a pioneer in sustainable beverage production and packaging and they pride themselves on being the most sustainable bottled water brand in Switzerland. They achieve sustainability through their targeted cooperation with local partners. VALSER cooperates with renowned institutions such as the consulting firm, Swiss Climate, where all CO2 emissions caused by production and distribution are recorded. This data enables VALSER to continuously reduce its CO2 emissions by means of operational optimization, and they aim to reduce these emissions by 30% before 2030. Through the consistent reduction of their CO2 footprint and by the compensation of remaining CO2 emissions, VALSER was the first mineral water brand in Switzerland to achieve climate neutrality. Determined to break new ground, VALSER also cooperates with Climeworks and obtains the CO2 that makes carbonated beverages bubble, directly from the ETH spin-off.  This groundbreaking technology was first used in VALSER beverage production worldwide: the CO2 is filtered out of the ambient air, passed through a cleaning  process, and  recycled  for  use in their carbonated, sparkling drinks. 

VALSER is committed to new perspectives not only in Switzerland, but also beyond its borders. In collaboration with the Swiss development organization, Helvetas, the charity project #ValserforWater was launched in Nepal. For every litre of VALSER Still water sold, families in the mountain regions of Nepal are supplied with three litres of drinking water giving them easy access to clean drinking water. Now VALSER has gone one step further as they are the first Swiss mineral water brand to convert the use of a 100 percent recycled PET product for the manufacture of their bottles, completing the sustainability cycle from water procurement and treatment to the bottling process. By autumn 2019, all VALSER PET bottles will be made from 100 percent recycled material the so called rPET.

For the launch campaign of the packaging innovation, USP developed a unique roadshow in the five largest cities in Switzerland - including Bundesplatz in Bern and Barfüsserplatz in Basel. At the centre of the two-stage activation was a four-meter-high original replica of the VALSER water bottle, which was produced entirely from sustainable or reusable materials, and used as a recycling collection point. In keeping with VALSER’s sustainability profile, the entire roadshow was also climate-neutrally certified. Interested onlookers were called upon to throw their old PET bottles into the temporary recycling station, in the form of the oversized replica, so that they could be fully recycled into new rPET bottles –  to accord with  the motto: “Nice to see you again”. The two-stage live-marketing activity was rounded off by a suitable discount campaign in which consumers received a 2-for-1 voucher for their next VALSER bottle when they handed in their old PET bottle, which they could redeem at any Coop retail store in Switzerland. The USP promoter team also ensured that consumers were fully informed about recycling, sustainable water bottling and rPET. 

USP Partner was responsible for the entire conception of the activity, including the planning, creation and realisation of the four-meter high replica of the VALSER bottle recycling station. EFMP’s Swiss partner can be credited with having gone beyond their brief by delivering a campaign that proved to be successful, not only in promoting the VALSER brand and in highlighting its commitment to, and practice of, sustainability; but by incorporating those same principles into their marketing initiative, they also played a part in educating the public about these important ecological issues.