Oma’s Soep Fights Elderly Loneliness With Free Meal Campaign

If you ever doubted that advertising could do more than sell a product, Oma’s Soep and 100 Dutch restaurants just served you a heartwarming rebuttal—hot, fresh, and free for grandma.

On June 4th, diners across the Netherlands will walk into cozy eateries with their grandparents in tow and walk out with something you can’t find on any menu: connection. Call it what you like—a campaign, a promotion, a public service. I call it good advertising.

Because good advertising does more than move soup. It moves people.

Let’s study the ingredients.

Oma’s Soep didn’t lead with price. They led with purpose. That’s rare—and powerful. They took a national day that most marketers would use to push product and turned it into a platform for empathy. One free meal for an elder. One full plate of dignity, conversation, and human contact. And they didn’t shout it from the rooftops with empty slogans. They whispered something true: “No one deserves to be alone.”

And suddenly, you’re not buying soup. You’re buying into a story. A mission. A shared table.

Their campaign doesn’t just sell to the head—it strikes the heart. A phrase like "A Table for Two Against Loneliness" has rhythm, restraint, and resolve. You remember it because it feels like it’s always been true.

This is copy that behaves like a good host: it invites. It includes. It doesn’t force. And that’s something Ogilvy would admire.

Oma’s Soep also understands another eternal truth: you don’t have to be loud to be heard. The voices of a restaurateur, an epidemiologist, and a marketer echo one another not because they scream, but because they’re sincere. The data on elderly frailty is sobering. The solution—human connection over soup—is simple. That tension is what makes the message land.

Finally, the campaign is rooted in action. Not awareness. Not applause. But action. Tables are being set. Conversations are being had. Health is being restored. This is not advertising that flatters the brand. It flatters the audience—because it trusts them to care.

So if you ask me, Oma’s Soep didn’t just launch a campaign.

They wrote a love letter to the elderly—and served it with a ladle.

Client: Oma’s Soep
Agency: Fitzroy
Cinematography & Editing: Woutair Koomen
Director: Mischa Schreuder
Music Agency: Sizzer
Composer: Tessa Rose Jackson
Music Supervisor: Nordin Cornelia
Music Producer: Mees van der Velde
Executive Music Supervisor: Sander van Maarschalkerweerd
Outdoor Advertising Partner: JCDecaux NL