HOW ECOPACK ACTIVATED OVER 500 VENUES THROUGH THE ECOSTARS CAMPAIGN

How did one initiative manage to unite hundreds of venues, fitness centers, and schools around the mission of creating a cleaner environment? Through the “ECOstars” campaign, ECOPACK Bulgaria not only provided free recycling containers, but also created an eco-rating platform where more than 20,000 users voted for their favorite venues. In this case study, you will discover how strategic digital marketing helped activate over 500 venues, what communication approaches we used, and how we achieved significant audience engagement. Finally, you will learn the key lessons from this green initiative and how they can be applied to your business.

THE CLIENT

ECOPACK Bulgaria AD is the leading packaging waste recovery organization in Bulgaria. For 20 years, the company has played a key role in developing the circular economy of packaging waste in the country.

The organization maintains a three-color container system for separate waste collection, serving more than 2.5 million people across 94 municipalities nationwide.

WHAT WAS THE CAMPAIGN CONCEPT?

The goal was to motivate venues, fitness centers, and schools in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Burgas to participate in a campaign focused on recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

By submitting an application through the campaign landing page, each participating venue received free recycling containers and complimentary collection services for the gathered plastic bottles and cans.

In collaboration with creative studio Slava — creators of the campaign concept, communication framework, and key visuals — the “ECOstars” campaign was born.

To achieve the campaign objectives, we focused on several key elements:

• A landing page clearly highlighting the benefits of participation
• An effective and user-friendly application form
• A voting functionality allowing users to vote for their favorite venue
• Stickers, awards, and the ECOstars title for the 500 venues that collected the highest number of votes

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES?

The first challenge was selecting the most effective media mix while working within a limited budget.

The second challenge was creating a communication platform capable of motivating maximum participation from venues and organizations.

The third challenge was making the campaign recognizable among the audience despite ECOPACK’s many other ongoing initiatives, such as “Urban Recycliade” and “Ecochampions.”

WHAT WAS OUR APPROACH?

Our main communication goal was to give ECOstars a human face. This allowed users to connect with the real people behind the initiative and its mission.

We positioned venue owners, servers, teachers, and event organizers as the true stars of the campaign — people who care about the environment while doing their everyday work.

The main communication themes included:

• Venue participation in the “Green Walk of Fame” — Bulgaria’s first eco-rating platform for venues
• Special recognition for outstanding participants through tagged posts and dedicated articles
• Free recycling containers and collection services that simplified the recycling process
• A raffle with 100 eco-friendly prizes for users who voted for their favorite venue
• Inspiring stories featuring people involved in the ECOstars initiative

From a communication standpoint, we emphasized the positive image and added value the campaign could bring to participating venues. We understood that every business wants to be successful — and environmental responsibility has become an essential part of modern brand perception.

Here is a small selection of our favorite campaign posts from social media:

META FORMATS, AUDIENCES, AND MESSAGING

META FORMATS

We began with Facebook and Instagram posts, along with static banners focused on the campaign’s two main directions:

• Campaign participation
• Voting for participating venues

We also used static META banners optimized for traffic campaigns.

TARGET AUDIENCES

We selected two highly specific primary audience groups:

• Venue managers
• Fitness facility managers

The campaign targeted users in Sofia, Burgas, and Plovdiv, while additional interest-based targeting allowed us to reach highly relevant audiences with greater precision.

GOOGLE FORMATS, AUDIENCES, AND MESSAGING

GOOGLE FORMATS

Google Responsive Display Ads

This automated ad format allowed us to combine images, logos, headlines, and descriptions dynamically. Google optimized the combinations automatically to achieve the best possible performance. We also included animated HTML5 banners.

Google Display Network

We expanded communication through banner advertising across the Google Display Network. This helped us reach relevant audiences while they browsed millions of websites, applications, and Google-owned platforms. The format proved highly effective for driving traffic and attracting potential partners beyond social media channels.

Google Target Audiences

We relied on several audience types:

• Affinity Audiences — users targeted based on interests and behavior, such as business professionals and aspiring chefs
• In-Market Audiences — users actively researching or intending to purchase products and services related to business technology or business services
• Life Events Audiences — users experiencing major milestones, such as starting a business
• Placement Targeting — targeting ads on specific websites including money.bg, investor.bg, capital.bg, and others

The formats and messages we used for the campaign looked like this:

THE RESULTS

The campaign delivered impressive results across the entire digital ecosystem:

• Over 1 million unique users reached
• More than 4 million ad impressions
• Over 44,000 META ad clicks
• More than 127,000 engagements in META
• Over 85,000 website sessions generated
• More than 65,000 users visited the campaign landing page
• Over 20,000 votes cast on the eco-rating platform

CAMPAIGN RESULTS REPORTED BY THE CLIENT

The campaign successfully activated:

• 200 venues in Sofia
• 207 venues in Burgas
• 103 venues in Plovdiv

Thanks to the active communication strategy, more than 20,000 users participated in the eco-rating platform by voting for their favorite venues.

In total, 60 venues with the strongest results across the three cities were officially awarded by ECOPACK for their participation in the campaign.