The Forbes rich list has a strikingly different #1.The Amazon Rainforest has made the top ranking of Forbes’ ranking of the world’s richest billionaires in a special advertising campaign by Sao Paulo global beauty brand, Natura.
The cover takeover of Forbes’ billionaire list featuring the Amazon Rainforest declared the richest entity in the world goes live online on Friday, April 26. A corresponding print edition with the cover highlighting the Amazon Rainforest’s “achievement” will be released on May 10.
The Amazon Rainforest tops Forbes’ renowned list of the world’s billionaires with a staggering valuation of $317 billion cited independently by the World Bank.
The achievement was conceived and developed by Natura and Brazilian agency, Africa Creative, part of Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide.
“At Africa Creative, it’s a monumental achievement to showcase the immense value of the standing Amazon on the cover of Forbes’ Billionaires issue,” stated Joanna Monteiro, co-CCO of Africa Creative. “We approached Forbes with a concept that transcended traditional advertising norms because we believed the message about the Amazon’s economic and environmental significance needed a grand stage. Forbes recognised the unique, critical importance of this message and the execution. It readily agreed to the special cover.”
“There’s no one better suited to highlight the unparalleled value of the Amazon than Natura. Over more than 20 years of intense work in the Amazon, we have had the privilege of demonstrating to Brazil and the world that it is possible to respect the region’s socio-biodiversity and value the knowledge of traditional communities through regenerative practices”, added Natura CMO and global head of Innovation, Tatiana Ponce.
“Now, once again, this has been proven and we highlight the incomparable wealth coming from the standing forest, achieved through the sustainable development of the Amazon region, which enables us to create high-performance products based on bio-innovation and biodiversity.”
Natura’s campaign comes as the brand is celebrating its 55th anniversary. Many of its products are formulated using natural ingredients sourced from the Amazon rainforest.
Over the years, Natura has developed a strong reputation as a pioneer in using the bioeconomy of the Amazon. By focusing on sustainable business practices, Natura has been instrumental in demonstrating that the forest’s value extends far beyond timber or agricultural land. Over the past 24 years, Natura has worked with local communities to harvest bioactive ingredients for cosmetics, ensuring that preserving the forest is more profitable than exploiting it. Their efforts have led to the preservation of over 2 million hectares of forest and have positively impacted the lives of more than 10,000 families.
This special Forbes cover is a symbolic representation of a broader movement that Natura has championed: that the Amazon’s preservation is economically viable and critical for the planet.
The campaign demonstrates that the standing forest is worth seven times more than the potential earnings from its destruction.
The cover is designed to captivate. It features a vivid depiction of the Amazon’s lush biodiversity, symbolising the wealth and life it holds. Readers will find the conventional cover beneath, linking the extraordinary story of the Amazon with the influential content of Forbes’ global billionaires’ list. The collaboration with Forbes hopes to inspire other brands as well as communities worldwide to rethink how they value our natural resources. The campaign puts a spotlight on the potential of bioeconomy as a transformative force for good, demonstrating that economic incentives can align with environmental stewardship.
