Kind promotes sustainability with Snapchat tie-up, VR experience

Dive Brief:

Kind Snacks today launched a series of digital activations promoting its new Kind Almond Acres Initiative, a three-year regenerative agriculture pilot project in California, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
Activations include a partnership with Snapchat for an augmented reality (AR) lens promoting regenerative agriculture and a designated landing page where consumers can follow the initiative through long-form video and virtual reality (VR) experiences.
The project represents a further commitment by Kind to sustainably source its ingredients and is the latest move by the brand to leverage education and the environment to appeal to consumers.

Dive Insight:

Kind is often outspoken about its sustainability ties, with its latest effort proving no different. The Almond Acres Initiative and immersive digital activations tied to the program could help the brand boost consumer loyalty, arriving at a time when shoppers — particularly Gen Z — increasingly prioritize environmental considerations.

As part of the newly launched Almond Acres Initiative, Kind will test regenerative agriculture practices across 500 acres of almond orchards owned by the brand’s supplier, Olam Food Ingredients, in Madera, California. The effort is meant to advance public research and a new commitment by Kind to source 100% of its almonds — the main ingredients in its products — from orchards that use regenerative agriculture practices on a mass balance basis by 2030.

In an attempt to reach consumers, Kind today (April 18) launched an AR experience on Snapchat that allows users to “visit” the Almond Acres Initiative by using their camera to look around the orchard and select various icons, each offering sustainability information and playful filters, like the ability to transform into an almond or a bee.

Also featured in the project is an interactive landing page that helps consumers track progress and learn about specific technologies being tested. Through the site, users can take part in a VR tour of the orchards, where they will be challenged to find five “hotspots” to gain additional information about the initiative. Marketing the project to consumers through gamified, immersive experiences could help the brand better communicate its value.

“We know that regenerative agriculture can be challenging to understand. We know our consumers want to engage in learning how to be kinder to our planet, and that is why we’re welcoming everyone into the living, learning lab that is the KIND Almond Acres Initiative,” said Kelly Solomon, CMO at Kind, in a statement.

Additional cause-driven efforts round out the campaign. They include a partnership with the University of California, Merced, a Hispanic-serving institution, to award the first-ever “KIND to the planet” scholarship. The brand is also now a member of the California Water Action Collaborative, an organization dedicated to improving the state’s water security.

Kind’s latest moves follow other marketing plays, including the February launch of its first commercial in over a year, titled “I See Almonds.” Kind also recently partnered with “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi for a speakeasy-style pop-up restaurant in New York.

The snack marketer last year saw double-digit growth, with marketing efforts guided by CMO Solomon, who was appointed to the role in January 2022. Kind was acquired by Mars in 2020 for an estimated price of over $5 billion.