The world is increasingly turning its attention to the Amazon. Whether for its climatic importance, the potential of its biodiversity, or a belated recognition of its traditional peoples, the region is a powerful symbol globally. According to researchers in the field, the Amazônia [Amazon] has become a brand that adds economic and symbolic value to products and services and builds consumer loyalty.

Otacílio Amaral Filho, professor at the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação, Cultura e Amazônia da Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) [Graduate Program in Communication, Culture and Amazon of the Federal University of Pará], wrote a book on the Amazônia brand as a result of his doctoral degree dissertation. In the book, he discusses how this process takes place, which associates the region to a series of representations, such as biodiversity, sustainability, traditional peoples and forest. 

The professor explains that the use of the Amazônia brand has had two moments. The first one was its appropriation by the large companies, who understood the value enhancement of amazonian products based on sustainability and social responsibility discourses and consumers’ demand for “green” products.

“The second moment was the inversion of this process: instead of the big corporations, the Amazônia brand turns to the culture of original and traditional populations. There has been a boost in several sectors such as açai, cocoa, and gastronomy in general, as well as those traditionally known products, traditional medicine and cosmetics.  The power that the brand creates, now comes from the culture”, analyzes the researcher.
In this context, the professor believes that local economies need support in understanding market possibilities, such as promotion based on design. “As a rule, local entrepreneurs lack this expertise, this knowledge that can boost their products”, he says.

Branding

The Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia (PCT) Guamá [Science and Technology Park Guamá], state institution aimed at encouraging research, innovation and entrepreneurship, exercises this support cited by Amaral Filho. The Park promotes training courses on branding, which is the process of managing a brand´s strategies, to associate with certain perceptions and highlight its uniqueness in relation to other brands. This can be done, for instance, by building a solid visual identity and disseminating values practiced by the company, such as social responsibility.

José Bonifácio Sena is the Park’s Training and Qualification supervisor and works in the area of Amazonian projects and industries for export and internationalization. He delivers some of these training courses on brand management. 

“How can we work on their identity, link their image to the Amazonian environment? How do companies in the region turn their product into a brand, use a unique design which generates value? We know that whoever consumes sustainable products are more demanding consumers, less price sensitive. The branding and design associated with Amazonian products allow brands to reach these tribes, communicate their image, transmit their value”, he explains.  

According to Sena, data from the Confederação Nacional das Indústrias [Brazilian National Confederation of Industry] indicate that investments in branding and design boost sales. “In a report on the challenges Brazilian industries face for internationalization, they found that 75 % of those that invest on design see a considerable increase in sales. Among these 75%, 41% even manage to reduce costs”, he adds. 

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“Consumers end up preferring more aesthetically pleasing packaging, with an appeal, an environmental concern. They are more willing to try out brands whose packaging indicates it is a company concerned with a cause or that has some positive identification with a region”, he points out.

With new packaging, Ururuá association reaches new markets

An agroextractivist association in Uruará, in the southeast of Pará, has seen its business flourish by changing its packaging. Non-timber forest products such as copaíba and andiroba oils, cupuaçu butter and babaçu flour, with the new packaging, have achieved not only an increase in sales value, but also access to new markets. 

The collective Associação Agroextrativista Sementes da Floresta (Aasflor) [Forest´s Seeds Agroextractivist Association] gathers family farmers from agrarian reform settlements. 

The organization was given advice by a design and brand management agency from Pará, which helped the producers change the visual aspect of the products. It guaranteed an identity which reflected the essence of their work: agroextractivism with sustainability.  The associated producers work on reforestation, both on their own land and by donating seeds to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that reforest degraded areas. 

Élida Moraes, Aasflor producer, explains how the process of renewing the brand´s visual aspect came about.  “In 2021, we had a visit from Synergia, a socioenvironmental consulting company. We established a partnership in 2022, and one of the proposals was to improve the packaging of the products, so that not only the content of each product was visible, but also the representation of the socioenvironmental work we do”, says Élida. 

The Aasflor was advised by the Libra Branding consultancy company, which carries out what is known as social design work with the Amazonian communities. “We call social design projects that benefit groups, cooperatives and associations which have small-scale production and work with local inputs, seeking to add value to the product through its design. It is funded by large companies, institutions or projects, both national and international, as a means of generating benefits for local communities”, explains Aline Paes, brand strategist and one of the consultancy company´s partner.  

The project was funded by Synergia. They have upgraded the packaging and technically adapted the labels. With the new packaging, Aasflor products were launched in July last year, in São Paulo, at the 17th edition of Naturaltech, Latin America´s largest fair for organic and natural products.

Élida says that the association had already participated in local fairs in neighboring cities, but attending Naturaltech was a turning point. “We had great results, more visibility for the conservation work we do and partnerships to sell our products in São Paulo. Our social media has also become more active, considering that until then, we had very few followers”, she recalls.

Social design is built up with the communities

The social design work is developed together with the assisted communities. “One very important part of this work is going to the community to start the work together as a collaboration. It is not something we create and they accept it and get it.  It is really important that the communities are effectively represented in what they sell”, highlights Aline Paes.  “So, we do this immersion, we experience a glimpse of their reality, we do our creative forum process, in which they actively take part. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the products are as representative of that territory as possible”, she adds.

For Élida Moraes, the work revealed Aasflor´s great potential. “The entire process, from start to finish, took around four months. It provided visibility, opened doors and also encouraged the team of agroextractivists associates to pursue sustainable production”, she celebrates.

Products show the territory they come from

For Aline Paes, social design work is a way of adding value to the Amazonian sociobiodiversity products, as pointed out by Amaral Filho e Sena. “We take a product such as copaíba or andiroba oil, which is produced here, and create new packaging, turning the product more attractive, so that when it is placed on a shelf in a commercial establishment, whether in the region or outside, it can stand out visually. But more than standing out visually, that it is able to tell a story, to show the territory it came from, and carry a bit of that essence in the packaging”, says the branding strategist.

She highlights that a better presentation of a product has an impact on the price. “Aasflor used to sell the products for a certain price, but they managed to increase it. This generates more benefits to that community, which will be able to increase the productive capacity and create a cycle of growth for that territory and those people”, she says.  

“Therefore, this breaks down a barrier.  For a long time, outside companies only wanted to pay negligible amounts to the communities for the inputs. But now, these communities realize that they can have their own brand and reach new markets, using our inputs, from our territory, with our local workforce, with all the experience and traditional knowledge”, Aline explains.

Good for everyone

Élida Moraes believes that there is a value enhancement in Amazonian sociobiodiversity products. “When they see the products, their eyes light up. These products are made with the standing forest, so it is good for those who consume them and also for the world. Thus, the social design really boosts the process, as it is built together with the traditional communities, therefore, the brand is imprinted with the life of the peoples, fauna, flora, representing the entire Amazonian biome”, she concludes.