This month, Cervejaria Colorado in Brazil launched a beer with a price that fluctuates weekly according to deforestation levels in the Amazon rainforest. Colorado worked with forest engineer Tasso Azevedo to create the Amazon Price Adjustment Index (IRPA) to compare today’s average weekly deforestation rate with that of the same period in 2019; increased deforestation will increase a can’s price by the same percentage, and vice versa. The Amazonian Colorado beer was launched to further the brand’s commitment to biodiversity in the Amazon and is made with Brazilian ingredients, such as babassue and pacová. All proceeds are donated to the Terro do Meio Canteens Network, which includes local farmers and indigenous populations that live in the Amazon and are working to conserve the rainforest.
We’re inundated with a plethora of purchasing choices in every category on Earth – toilet paper, cookies, clothing, you name it. So it can be difficult to get customers to truly notice (let alone appreciate) the bells and whistles differentiating your offering in the marketplace. They may not even give due attention to how your product or service plays into your brand’s greater purpose.
But there’s one aspect they will never, ever fail to notice: the price! Prices are those numbers we remember. The numbers we track. The numbers that can scare us! Because even minor price adjustments impact us and the resources we have to navigate this world. Prices affect consumers, so in linking deforestation to prices...Colorado has now made it so the state of the Amazon affects consumers personally. And as beer drinkers notice themselves literally paying for deforestation, they may ponder how we’re all ‘paying for’ its negative consequences on the environment. Other examples of brands hitting consumers’ wallets to make them aware of an issue? See how Australian condom brand LifeStyles bases its price on search data for STIs (all to promote safe sex!). There’s also BookNook’s equity pricing model which – while not fluctuating – makes US schools acutely aware of education inequality across the nation.
How can you play with pricing (or, if not pricing, changing data patterns) to get your customers to care about a critical issue, to tell its story or compel meaningful action?
Stay healthy,
The TrendWatching content team
