The Body Shop Indonesia challenges Indonesia consumers to go green this Ramadan

The Body Shop Indonesia has unveiled its Ramadan campaign titled "Green Ramadan: Refresh and Reconnect This Ramadan", inviting consumers to carry out a good deed that is not only meaningful personally, but also good for the environment. According to Aryo Widiwardhono, CEO of The Body Shop Indonesia, the campaign is fronted by a series of environmentally-friendly activities that are accompanied by a spirit of creativity and innovation. 

Among the activities include the #TBSGreenRamadan challenge, a 30-day challenge hosted on The Body Shop's Instagram page, to encourage consumers in Indonesia to make small sustainable changes in their lifestyle that help conserve nature during the month of Ramadan. Such activities include not using plastic for a day, having at least one plant in the living area, and choosing to use an eco-friendly product. The Body Shop has also engaged influencer Tantri Namirah, who is also active in various environmental initiatives to front the campaign. 

The Body Shop will also be working with Sekolah Bisa, a free school for underprivileged children aged six to 12 years old living around landfills, to provide proper education. The Body Shop will partner with non-governmental organisation Yayasan Tangan Sesama to formulate a green curriculum, to help students understand their connection to the environment, both naturally and socially. The Body Shop will also be dedicating part of its office space for the children to learn. Upon completion of the course, students will be awarded a formal certification. To include the whole company in this initiative, The Body Shop will also be encouraging its employees to volunteer their time to teach some extra-curricular activities for the children such as arts and crafts. 

Additionally, The Body Shop collaborated with social enterprise Du Anyam to create special craft boxes (pictured below) that are made with environmentally-friendly materials. Under the partnership, The Body Shop will be buying these craft boxes from Du Anyam that can be purchased at its retail outlets. Du Anyam empowers more than 1,000 women in 50 villages in East Nusa Tenggara and Papua by producing and distributing handmade wicker crafts. It aims to provide economic empowerment to rural women, allowing them to access better nutrition and education for their children. 

Besides its collaboration, The Body Shop is also pushing its own environmentally-friendly makeup line. Its theme for Ramadan this year is "Clean beauty look", and sees the brand promoting products that enable consumers to spot a natural makeup look this festive season. The line of products includes Fresh Nude Foundation, Eye Pallette Bold As Nature, Happy Go Lash, and more. In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, a spokesperson from The Body Shop said it is promoting the "clean beauty look" this year because it wants to encourage consumers to look fresh with a natural-look makeup, despite staying indoors more often this year. 

Championing sustainability has always been one of The Body Shop's value, according to its official website. Last year in Singapore, The Body Shop used its retail outlet as a space for green activism and encourage visitors to explore and recycle products. The brand transformed the retail space into an interactive “activist workshop”, which aimed to provide a unique experience, marketing the store with its tagline “It's time to scrub up our bodies and scrub up the world. Together, we're unstoppable”. To promote the store, The Body Shop also used a virtual PR event with a 360-degree store tour. In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE then, a spokesperson said that Singapore was one of the first five countries in which they opened such a concept store, with the first country being UK in 2019.

Separately, the brand brought onboard former MD of Wunderman Thompson Indonesia, Daniel Hagmeijer, as its chief digital officer in January this year. In a LinkedIn post, Hagmeijer said he is thrilled to become part of The Body Shop’s fight for a fairer and more beautiful world as the retail and beauty industries are ever-evolving alongside customer needs. “I can't wait to rock 2021 with Aryo and team, learn tons of new things, and enhance The Body Shop experience using data and technology, both online and offline,” he added.

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