Avon Hello Green Tomorrow

Campaign: Avon Hello Green Tomorrow
Company: Avon
Nonprofit Partner: The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund 
Launch Date: May 31, 2012

Campaign Description:

With the continuation of their Hello Green Tomorrow cause marketing initiative, Avon is mobilizing its 6.4 million independent Sales Representatives worldwide to help restore critically endangered tropical forests via The World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy. Some of the 2012 Hello Green Tomorrow fundraising products include: An Eco Hero Bracelet (Europe and Latin America), a t-shirt collection sold exclusively in Brazil and an aluminum water bottle available only in the U.S. (priced at $6.00, with 100 percent of the net proceeds ($2.98) benefiting the Hello Green Tomorrow Fund). A microsite educates sales reps, consumers and the general public on environmentally-friendly actions everyone can take in their daily lives.

Our Take:

In the past two years, Avon has generated more than $3.5 million to this environmental deforestation cause, mainly via its independent sales representatives. The beauty of this particular effort lies in the company-wide commitment toward greater sustainability, including its ‘Paper Promise’ and ‘Palm Oil Promise’, tackling sensitive cosmetic-industry issues head-on and providing a viable defense against claims of greenwashing. In this third year, we’re surprised at the absence of any sort of social media component that might help the message travel further faster. But perhaps Avon’s impressive army of 6.4 million dedicated cause crusaders is all it takes for this beauty of a cause effort to be more than skin deep.