Digital marketing meets sustainability

14 November 2025

Students from the Digital Marketing Major presented their final project through the MKM3600 Digital Incubator Investor Pitch. The session highlighted the importance of their major, where each team pitched a climate-focused digital marketing venture designed to demonstrate business potential and environmental impact, aligning with Monash Impact 2030’s sustainability goals. The presentations were judged by Dr Alagarani Suntharam (Freelance Consultant, advocate for sustainability, entrepreneurship and youth development), Evan Wong (Rai.Digital, a social media marketing agency), Low Ler Min (Program Associate from 1337 Ventures), with Dr Racheal Louis Vincent (Chief Examiner) facilitating and mentoring students throughout this unit.

The first team presented GoGreenLah: Malaysia’s first digital, gamified recycling platform, a solution that uses gamification to encourage recycling behaviour among Malaysians. Their idea involves installing smart bins in shopping malls where users can scan QR codes to link their accounts, deposit recyclable plastics, and earn points redeemable for rewards. The bins scan barcodes to track the amount of plastic deposited, while the app monitors savings and offers additional tasks for users to earn more points.

Skin Re: Fresh team highlighted a sustainability-driven beauty retail initiative in Malaysia, a platform designed to reduce cosmetic waste. They noted that the beauty industry generates 1.2 million kilograms of waste annually, accounting for 23 per cent of landfill-related greenhouse gas emissions globally. Their concept combines a centralised retail experience with a recycling program with dermatologist-certified ingredients.

The women-led team behind Just Eco pitched a digital startup dedicated to combating food waste in Malaysia. Their platform aims to sell excess ingredients and meals to reduce food waste while promoting sustainability. The team positioned Just Eco as an affordable solution for the mass market, contrasting with competitors that focus on premium areas. Their initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal on waste reduction.

Youth-focused and tech-savvy, Re Collect showcased engaging youth to reduce plastic waste through gamification in Malaysia, an app designed to motivate recycling through verified digital rewards. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to verify plastic waste and generate QR codes for each verified collection. Users earn points for eco-friendly actions, which can be redeemed for incentives. Their long-term goals include achieving 25 per cent plastic recycling by 2025 and 100 per cent by 2030, aligning with Malaysia’s national sustainability goals.

Addressing Malaysia’s food waste challenge, ResQFood presented a mobile-first food rescue app in Malaysia, developed to reduce food waste by collaborating with restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores to list leftover food at discounts of up to 43 per cent. The app enables users to purchase or donate leftover meals and includes gamified features like points, badges, and impact tracking to monitor carbon emissions saved. The team also exclaimed that Malaysians waste 17 tons of food daily.

The final team introduced Swap Mart, a digital marketplace that disrupts wasteful blind-box collectible consumption habits, offering a sustainability-driven platform that allows collectors to swap duplicate dolls and figures instead of discarding them. Targeting Gen Z and millennial collectors, the team projects two million users by 2028 in Southeast Asia’s collectables market.

At the end of the presentation session, the judging panel praised the quality of the mockups and marketing materials prepared for each pitch, highlighting the students’ energy and ability to utilise modern digital tools effectively. Judges advised participants to refine their financial models, simplify their slides, and strengthen audience engagement through eye contact and enthusiasm. They also encouraged students to explore incubation and acceleration opportunities to bring their ideas to life.