How we helped

What's the best way to spread the huge impact story of a tiny purple berry? This was the challenge SAMBAZON CEO Ryan Black presented to Kindship in 2022. While SAMBAZON's certified-organic Açaí brand was well-known, the remarkable, behind-the-scenes details of the company's positive impact work was not. Kindship set out to help SAMBAZON change that.

We started by meeting with SAMBAZON employees, from the sales team to C-Suite. We asked a lot of questions to understand how they're communicating the company's impact. We looked for the biggest opportunities and the biggest challenges. We also took a deep-dive into all the assets created by SAMBAZON to better understand how they talk about themselves.

Next, Kindship presented our findings to the team and shared our recommendations, including how to create more internal alignment and organization. We wanted to understand how SAMBAZON'S  impact story could more easily be communicated by employees company-wide. This eventually led to the creation of an "impact team" that met regularly and helped guide a variety of marketing comms projects aiming to elevate SAMBAZON's story of work with harvesters in the Amazon Rainforest, care for the forest, and support for the harvester communities.

One key way SAMBAZON communicates its impact is through its annual impact report. It's an essential, foundational tool for SAMBAZON to share all of the thoughtful ways the company does business and the progress it makes each year toward its impact, ESG and GHG goals. As the impact team analyzed this report together, we realized it could do a better job of effectively sharing the company's progress. The throughline wasn't strong enough. It was too copy heavy. It needed a clear theme, one that could guide not only the report, but all of SAMBAZON's impact communications in years to come. 

Together, we landed on "Palm to Palm," a phrase the company had kicked around but hadn't fully embraced. We saw big potential in expanding this narrative, unpacking all the ways the company creates a positive impact — from the palm of the Açaí trees in the Amazon, to the palm of SAMBAZON's consumers hands. 

"Palm to Palm" took center stage in the report and has become the company's rallying cry, a way to encapsulate the complete story of their work. To check out SAMBAZON's 2025 Impact report, which celebrates the company's 25 years of life-changing impact, visit here. 

Here are a few key take-aways about impact communications from our work with SAMBAZON:

• For sustained success, top company leaders must have an unwavering commitment to telling stories of impact. It must be integrated into the work of every department. Accountability toward progress is a must so objectives aren't lost among more seemingly urgent business matters. 

• It's important to have an impact storytelling theme, one that encapsulates the company's impact, such as SAMBAZON's "Palm to Palm." This creates a consistent, lasting throughline under which layers of stories can unfold and be shared. It makes it simpler for employees to talk about impact with stakeholders, such as customers, investors, media, etc.

• To maximize success, leaders from various departments should organize around impact communications, regularly meeting holding each other accountable for progress toward established goals. This way, impact comms won't be sidelined or compartmentalized in a corner of the business.

Good results

While there's a lot more work to be done, Kindship is proud of our work with the SAMBAZON team to help take their impact storytelling to a new level, ensuring more people know that when they purchase SAMBAZON Açaí, they are part of an ongoing cycle of positive impact on the Amazon Rainforest and people around the world.

To learn about Kindship's Impact Communications offerings, visit here.