Amarula used new print technology, Mosaic, to customise each bottle with a unique design and elephant’s name. This was done as part of phase two of its successful ‘Name Them, Save Them’ conservation campaign, spearheaded by the Amarula Trust.
‘Name Them, Save Them’ started in October 2016, when the brand launched the campaign with a webisode shot in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, which directed viewers to a virtual digital savannah, where they could design and name a virtual African elephant. Participants could then share their named elephant with friends and family as a means of raising awareness to the plight of these intelligent and magnificent animals.
In phase two, the digitalised pachyderms, created by the online audience, are brought to life by putting a named elephant and information regarding the animal on the labels of the bottles.
The unique labels were crafted, using an algorithm that randomly generates unique images, ensuring that each label is unique. Amarula is the first alcohol brand utilising this mosaic technology, launching it to the general trade around the world.
Amarula global GM Dino D’Araujo said, “The future of the African elephant is at a tipping point. Recent data shows that each day, not each month or even each week, poachers kill around 96 African elephants for their ivory. The species simply cannot sustain a slaughter on this scale and survive. This fuelled Amarula to intensify its efforts by joining forces with WildlifeDirect, working closely with respected conservationist Dr Paula Kahumbu to save our elephants.”
In a paradoxical twist, it was the senseless killing of another magnificent African animal that served as the inspiration for Amarula’s ‘Name Them, Save Them’ programme. In 2015, an unscrupulous American hunter in Zimbabwe killed a male African lion that had been given the name Cecil. When word of Cecil’s death erupted on the internet, the international outcry was spontaneous, immediate and unrelenting. By having named the lion, wildlife conservationists had created a persona for the animal allowing the general public to identify with it and relate to its well-being. Amarula credits the outcry over the death of Cecil as the inspiration for the ‘Name Them, Save Them’ programme.
The bottles, carrying the name and information on the digitalised elephants, will be available from April onwards, in Global Travel Retail as well as South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Canada, the UK and the US.
Amarula intends to maintain the digital African savannah and its visuals and urges conservationists around the world to visit the site https://amarula.com/trust and encourage other animal-lovers to do so as well. It will donate $1.00 to WildlifeDirect for every digital elephant created on the site.
For more information, go to www.amarula.com.
