• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, February 9, 2009

A campaign tying tree planting to Celestial Seasonings tea is generating strong sales plus customer data for the brand.

Celestial partnered with Trees for the Future, a charity that has planted more than 70 million trees in Central America, Africa and Asia since 1988.

Starting in January, Celestial committed to supporting one tree planting in a developing country for every box of Celestial purchased, up to a maximum of 1 million trees.

In addition, this month the brand launched a microsite at which consumers who register their name and email address can plant a virtual tree. Celestial will pay for planting up to another 50,000 trees based on consumer participation on the special site.

The effort is being supported by special displays at retailers throughout the country and two FSIs (one in January, one in February) in newspapers reaching approximately 35 million people. The FSIs feature Celestial's top-selling variety, Sleepytime herbal tea. The campaign, which ends at the end of March, also has a Facebook page.

Halfway through the campaign, retail sales have generated just about half of the 1 million goal--nearly 450,000, according to the tree "ticker" on the main site as of Monday--although the two-week-old online tree-planting site was, so far, up to only about 200 trees.

"We're confident that we will reach our goal," says Marketing Director Jennifer Stolte, who stresses that the campaign meshes with and enhances the brand's long association with sustainability and social responsibility.

Celestial, which has worked with many of the same farmers for more than 30 years, has established sustainable harvests and supports ethical trade practices. Celestial also uses minimal packaging, including a tea bag that requires no strings, tags, staples or individual wrappers, saving more than 3.5 million pounds of waste from entering landfills annually, according to the company.