Brief:

• Nestlé, Danone and Post are among the marketers participating in mobile shopping app Ibotta's Earth Day campaign to save trees from being turned into paper coupons. More than 20 consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands have joined the effort to raise awareness about the negative effects of print coupons on the environment, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
• Starting today, Ibotta's website will display a real-time "tree tracker" that shows the effort to plant as many as 1 million trees in the next month. As part of its observance of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, Ibotta is collaborating with nonprofit group Trees for the Future to offset the environmental effects of paper coupon production. Ibotta's website also shows CPG brands that have committed to reduce or eliminate paper couponing by next year.​
• Ibotta users can support the effort by redeeming special cash-back offers and promotions from CPG brands including Ban deodorant, CLIF, The Honest Company, New Belgium Brewing, Perfect Snacks and RxBar, among others.

Insight:

Ibotta's Earth Day campaign aims to raise awareness about the environmental effects of paper coupons while showcasing how people can save money and earn rewards through its app and website. Every year, 13 million trees are cut down to produce 256.5 billion paper coupons, per data provided by Ibotta. Because less than 1% of those coupons are redeemed, 1 million trees are wasted and households bear the cost of disposing that excess, according to the company's calculations.

Brands participating in Ibotta's promotion can show their commitment to helping the environment in a cause-driven campaign that may especially resonate with younger consumers. More than two-thirds of Gen Zers report thinking brands should help them achieve their goals in supporting social causes, per a study by PSFK. Cause-driven campaigns have become more important during the COVID-19 pandemic as brands demonstrate their willingness to help customers who worry about their health and personal finances. Cottonelle, Honda, Michelob Ultra, Rakuten Viber and Snapchat are among the companies that have touted their efforts to provide relief to people during the pandemic.

Ibotta's campaign follows last month's "Spring Forward, Cash Back" effort that urged people to stay committed to New Year's resolutions by offering cash back from marketers including Adidas, AT&T Mobility, Gap, Home Depot, JCPenney, Macy's and QVC, among others. Last year, Ibotta added a payments feature to offer additional savings to users. Instead of applying to individual products at checkout, Pay with Ibotta distributed rewards for the entire transaction at checkout among participating retailers and restaurants.