Sustainability and social responsibility are key messages for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands in the 21st century. With the crucial youth market keenly engaged with environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies around organic production, recyclable packaging and carbon footprints, the need to know exactly what brands are doing to help make the world a better place is undeniable.
Augmented reality (AR) is one tool that can be used to positively impact your global sustainability efforts and bridge the divide between brand purpose and consumer trust. Here’s how.
1. Tell your sustainability story from pack
72% of millennials are prepared to spend more on sustainable products - but a brand’s sustainability information is often hard to find and requires a lot of research - time which many consumers cannot afford (Nielsen 2015).
With AR, brands can turn products, packaging and places into digital discovery channels, surfacing their sustainability efforts through a humble QR code. The best part of using WebAR is that you can the create the experience once and use it everywhere across all digital and print channels - the reusability factor reduces your media content creation energy spent.
2. Use AR to build Customer Trust
As conscious consumerism starts to play a bigger role in society, brands are facing renewed impetus to build consumer trust and transparency. In 2022, it was found that nearly two-thirds of consumers today are buying or advocating for brands based on their values.
84% of young Gen Z (14-17) say that they buy on beliefs, with a five-point jump in the past year among those 18-26 years old to 64% saying they’re activists via brand choice. By nearly a 2-to-1 margin, respondents want more ‘We than Me’; they prefer to have brands make the world a better place, over brands making them a better person.
AR can bring the hyper personalized experience to stimulate the gen Z to buy from the brands. The wow factor reduces the firctions within th sales cycle while building confidence about the product displayed online. The innovative AR campaigns create major impacts to build trust to its customers that their choice of brand is walking down an environmental sustainable road while aiming to reduce carbon footprint.
3. Cut emissions with AR product visualisations
Let’s talk about how AR can reduce CO2 emissions by visualising products in 3D in their real-world environment.
Travel and the transportation of goods more broadly account for a large portion of their carbon footprint, and brands need to play their part in reducing this. Our world in data cited that Transport (cars, trains, planes, trucks) accounts for around one-fifth of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions today.
But, it’s not all doom and gloom.
Aside from the obvious (reducing unnecessary travel and planting trees to “offset” to offset our CO2 emissions), AR can play its part in reducing the need for the transportation of heavy machinery, furniture or advanced equipments.
4. Use AR for virtual events and product launches
Similarly, with the COVID-19 pandemic reducing the ability to host physical events and product launches, savvy brands are now turning to AR to breathe new life into these activations, driving more immersion while reducing the need for travel and costs associated with the physical production of goods and services.
5. Reduce physical stocks with endless shelf