Rarely does a brand’s name effectively explain what it is and why it exists, but such is the case with This Bar Saves Lives, a snack bar brand that donates nutrient packets to malnourished children around the world each time one of its products is purchased.
The brand was founded by actors Ryan Devlin and Todd Grinnell following a humanitarian trip to Liberia. While abroad, the two realized the impact of Plumpy’Nut, a “ready-to-use therapeutic food” that’s used to treat severe malnutrition. Upon returning home, the two decided to create a business that would help Plumpy’Nut get into the hands of those who need it most.
In the five years since it was founded, the company has donated more than 3.5 million packets around the world in countries including Haiti, the Philippines, South Sudan and Mexico.
The brand has also added actors Ravi Patel and Kristen Bell as co-founders, both of which it says play an active role in helping shape and grow This Bar Saves Lives.
Where did you get the idea for This Bar Saves Lives?
The seed of the idea for This Bar Saves Lives came about when myself and one of our co-founders, Todd, took a humanitarian trip to Liberia. We were in between jobs, and one of our friends was building a bridge and an orphanage in this remote village. So we took the trip and helped complete some of these projects.
While we were there, we toured this refugee clinic that was treating children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. It was really heartbreaking, but it was also incredibly inspiring because we saw how easy it was to treat these kids and completely turn their lives around through a variety types of nutritional aid, the most well known of which is called Plumpy’Nut. They call it the penicillin for malnutrition. We’d actually heard of Plumpy’Nut, and now here we were seeing it in action, taking these kids from near death to healthy and able to return back to their diets. That was one of those experiences that really rocked us. We came back to LA and decided that we wanted to do something to get this clinic more food aid.
Read more at The Drum: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/03/28/marketing-s-changemakers-how-snack-bar-brand-delivering-food-starving-children
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