Experiential Marketing as a Bridge Between ESG and People
ESG is often discussed in boardrooms, sustainability reports, and on the panels of major corporate events. Yet, little is said about how to actually turn those three letters into something that truly resonates with people — something that creates connection, engagement, and, above all, a sense of belonging. This has long been a challenge, and still, it seems we haven’t figured out how to move beyond the rhetoric and spark genuine interest in a topic so vital to the environment.
This is where experiential marketing plays a critical role: making ESG tangible, alive, and close to people’s realities. And a powerful example of how this can be done lies in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The Mejuruá Project, managed by the company BR Arbo, has begun delivering concrete improvements to riverside communities deep in the interior of Amazonas. Access to clean water, solar energy, internet, and land security — basic elements for many, but truly transformative for families who have spent decades without these fundamental rights.
From the start, lived experience and dialogue have been at the core of the Mejuruá Project’s communication strategy. After all, without actively listening to the population it serves, nothing is truly effective or meaningful. The project’s work goes far beyond infrastructure. It builds experience. It listens, involves, and co-creates. It is ESG with a face, with a voice, with warmth. And that is why it resonates — both with those who live it and those who witness it from afar.
In a world where brands are increasingly expected to take a stand, it’s no longer enough to claim environmental or social concern. It’s about more than showcasing — it’s about standing beside people, understanding their realities, and communicating with authenticity and respect for one’s place of speech.
Initiatives like the Mejuruá Project show the way forward: when experience and active listening are at the heart of the strategy, ESG stops being a technical pillar and becomes a story to be felt, lived, and shared. That is the power of truly committed experiential marketing — it turns values into lived experience. And in doing so, into brand value.
By Maurizio Rocchi, Coordinator of the Mejuruá Project
“This 55th anniversary is indeed a day touched by sorrow,” said Kathleen Rogers, Chair of Earth Day, in the opening remarks of the meeting. “Yet, it is in memory of Pope Francis and to honor his profound legacy that we gather.
United in purpose, we’re here to actively implement his vision of integral ecology and care for our common home, especially as we mark the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si’. My sincere gratitude to Gaetano Buglisi, Founder of IAMazonia, for his vision and tireless efforts in convening this crucial assembly, all dedicated to safeguarding our future and protecting our precious forests under the umbrella of IAMazonia.”
During the event, a Letter of Intent was signed by H.E. Victor Genina Cervantes, Director of Human Development at Caritas Internationalis, and Gaetano Buglisi, CEO of IAMazonia. This marks the first step in a collaborative partnership aimed at combating social and ecological injustice.
Caritas Internationalis will take on a guiding and monitoring role in the implementation of IAMazonia projects to ensure full adherence to environmental sustainability and integral human development principles.
The global relevance of IAMazonia’s model was underlined by a special video message from André Corrêa do Lago, President of COP30, the upcoming 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference to be hosted in Belém, Brazil.
Corrêa do Lago emphasized the strategic importance of replicable, high-integrity forest-based projects like Mejuruá in advancing climate goals ahead of COP30.
IAMazonia’s model redefines sustainable development through a regenerative economy centred on human flourishing. Project Mejuruà generates revenue through the sustainable production of timber, rubber, and açaí berries, alongside the issuance of carbon credits for voluntarily forgoing deforestation. This approach ensures financial viability and fair benefit-sharing, with project profits equitably allocated among investors, reinvestment in future initiatives, and programmes supporting local communities.
Fundação Getúlio Vargas will produce a position paper in collaboration with Harvard University Professor Alexander More, aimed at defining, developing, and evaluating the model conceived by IAMazonia, with a view to its replicability in other nature-based solution projects.
Looking ahead, IAMazonia plans to expand its model to other tropical rainforest regions — including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Venezuela, Tanzania, and Southeast Asia — where discussions and regulatory approval processes are already underway with national authorities and local stakeholders.
H. E. Mme Eve Bazaiba Masudi, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, participated remotely in the event to underscore the importance the DRC Government places on nature-based solutions — not only as a climate strategy but also as an opportunity to attract skilled, responsible, and long-term foreign investors such as IAMazonia.
Following the welcome remarks by Prof. Giovanni Tria — Chair of IAMazonia, economist, academic, and Italy’s former Minister of Economy and Finance — additional speakers included Donatella Parisi, Communications Coordinator, Laudato Si’ Movement; Virgilio Viana, Chairman Fundação Amazonia Sustentável; Rubens Antonio Barbosa, former Brazilian Ambassador to the United States and the United Kingdom; Javier Fiz Perez, Professor, European University of Rome and Vice-President of Core Values Org; Richard Muyungi, Climate Envoy and Advisor to the President of Tanzania on Environment and Climate Change.
Located in a vast and biodiverse region of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, Project Mejuruà represents a groundbreaking case of regenerative forest conservation and socio-economic development. The landowners have permanently renounced their legal right to deforest the area, which will now be fully protected through satellite surveillance and on-the-ground stewardship, effectively safeguarding it from illegal logging.
The project has already secured collaboration agreements with leading local institutions, including among others:
- The Government of the State of Amazonas, to support and promote the initiative, as reaffirmed by Governor Wilson Lima and by Flávio Cordeiro Antony Filho, Chief of the Civil House of the State of Amazonas;
- Fundacred, to offer scholarships and educational financing for young residents;
- Associação dos Moradores do Baixo Riozinho, to support local açaí berry production via a cooperative purchasing model that empowers small-scale farmers—especially women—and preserves traditional agricultural knowledge.
In the initial phase alone—and without accounting for the broader economic ripple effects—project Mejuruà will create more than 500 jobs, build new housing for more than 150 indigenous families, finance schools, aqueducts, water treatment systems, a biomass-powered energy plant, a brand-new sawmill facility, and provide access to medical care, internet connectivity, and digital inclusion programmes in forest villages.
As the world mourns the loss of Pope Francis, IAMazonia moves forward with renewed purpose, seeking to incarnate his vision of integral ecology through action—transforming landscapes, empowering communities, and offering a model of environmental stewardship rooted in social justice, economic dignity, and hope for the future.
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ANDREA GIANNOTTI (Mr.), +44 7825 892 640 / +39 347 35 55 096,
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