B Corp Ad Campaign Resonates with 17 Million

Resonates
B Corp Ad Campaign
with 17 Million
32
Research Results:
Conscious Consumer
s:
pany T
hroughout 2011, B Lab is running its first national ad
campaign on behalf of the community of Certified B
Corporations. With the help of marketing, branding
and media companies within the B Corp community,
the campaign will reach 17 million conscious consumers and invite
them to support “a better way of doing business.” The campaign was
developed by B Lab and its long-time partner T2AP Creative Team.
Research conducted by award-winning branding firm BBMG shows
that less than 1 percent of consumers trust company advertisements or
statements made on product packaging when deciding if a company is
or does what it claims. Instead, they trust their own research and rely
heavily on information provided by third-party organizations. B Corp
certification provides a transparent means for consumers to assess
products and companies, and the new campaign will tap into this demand.
“The B Corp campaign resonates because consumers increasingly
care about the companies that stand behind the products,” says
Raphael Bemporad, co-founder at BBMG. “Beyond the value of a
trusted third-party seal, the transparency requirements for B Corp
certification make it easier for consumers to do their own research to
distinguish good companies from just good marketing.”
2011 B Corporation Annual Report
com
Care about the product and the
pany claims when
73% consider both product and com
making a purchase
s
Trust third parties or themselve
(57%-100%)
Consumers are much more likely
ads
parties or themselves than company
to trust third
Don’t trust companies
advertisements or
Almost no one (<1%) trusts company
trying to understand
n
whe
g
agin
pack
on
statements made
what it says
if a product or company is or does
After viewin
g the ads fo
r the B Co
more than
rp campaig
90% say th
n,
ey’ll look o
B Corps ne
ut for the fe
xt time the
atured
y go shopp
want to lea
ing, or at le
rn more ab
ast
out them.
Better Companies Make Better Products
B Corp Ad Campaign Resonates with 17 Million
The Makin
g of a Cam
paign
Bart Houlahan
Co-Founder, B Lab
Office: 610.296.8283
Mobile: 610.745.7905
Email: [email protected]
www.bcorporation.net
www.giirs.org
Funds and Su
pports
Spreads the W
ord B2B
CREATIVE TEAM
ps and
Develo
Tests the Campaign
s
Design
Informs Their Re
aders
Creates the Viral Video
Builds the Audience Online
The campaign will be launched across the platforms of nearly a half-dozen
B Corp media companies including Care2.com; Sustainable Media Inc.,
publisher of Sustainable Industries; Celilo Group; and Ogden Publications,
publisher of Mother Earth News, Natural Home and Utne Reader.
“It’s a process of exploration to see what the audience finds compelling,”
explains Bryan Welch, publisher and editorial manger of Ogden
Publications, which has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars of ad space
for the campaign. What BBMG’s research shows is that this audience finds
B Corps compelling. BBMG’s research shows that 90 percent of consumers
who saw the B Corp ads said they would look out for the advertised B Corps
the next time they go shopping or at least wanted to learn more about them.
Beyond consumer impact, the campaign will influence business-tobusiness interactions as well. Media outlets like Sustainable Industries are read
widely by industry leaders who make decisions for their companies. The
campaign will appeal to the whole person, inviting them to support a better
way to do business at home and at work. “In the arena of sustainability
and social justice, there’s no distinction between those who are interested
personally and those interested professionally, which is part of the beauty
of what we’re doing,” Welch adds.
The branding campaign will also include an online component with individual
ads for each of the more than 70 participating B Corps (see following page).
Consumers can enter different virtual rooms of a home or office (kitchen or
family room or conference room), click on a company’s product or logo and
compare a set of third-party validated facts about each B Corps’ social and
environmental performance with questions about the employee, community,
or environmental practices of generic competitors.
“We want to help consumers to
separate good companies from
good marketing.”
The campaign will also extend to video, thanks to Free Range Studios, the
folks behind the successful “The Story of Stuff” series. “For a long time, the
story that has been told in our culture is that businesses have one bottom line
and the choices businesses make, sometimes harmful, are in service of that
single bottom line,” says McArthur, partner at Free Range. “Free Range is
pleased to be a part of the process of reframing business and what it can do.”
2011 B Corporation Annual Report
33
Better Companies Make Better Products
B Corp Ad Campaign Resonates with 17 Million
70+ B Corp
s Participa
34
The brands featured in the ads themselves are also working to help push the
campaign forward. “Because we are already a print advertiser, we are able
to get better advertising rates and extend the B Lab campaign,” says Sarah
McGinley-Smith, director of corporate communications at King Arthur
Flour. “It’s our responsibility to do what we can to increase awareness of the
B Corporation status. It makes our own involvement more valuable and
helps further the cause.”
There is a strong resonance between what conscious consumers want and
what B Corps and B Lab are doing–they want to be inspired that there is
a new way of doing business and also empowered with the tools to assess
just how sustainable and accountable companies are. “We want to help
consumers separate good companies from good marketing,” says Jay Coen
Gilbert, co-founder of B Lab. B Lab’s hope is that the campaign will help
consumers determine which companies are truly better and they’ll see that
B Corporations are the better companies.
2011 B Corporation Annual Report
ting in the
Campaign
Alima Cosmetics,
Inc.
King Arthur Flour
Atayne, LLC
Method Products,
Barber Gale
Inc.
Morning Indigo/Sk
Barkwheats Dog Pro
in Care for
ducts
Athletes
BBMG
Nest Collective
Benchmark Asset
Management
New Leaf Paper
Betterworld Teleco
m
New Resource Ba
Better World Books
nk
nrg::seattle
Bay Point Benefits
Numi Organic Tea
Bikestation
Ogden Publications
Care2
One Village Coffee
CSRwire
Social(k)
Culinary Collective
Revolution Foods
Dancing Deer
Philantech
Dansko, LLC
PICnet
Dharma Merchant
Services
Rimon Law Group
Dzambuling Import
s
Plum Organics
e3 Bank
PREM Group
ECOBAGS
Re:Vision Architectu
Elemental Herbs
re
RSF Social Financ
Essential Living Fo
e
ods
Sambazon
Ethical Bean Coffee
Salt Spring Coffee
Fair Trade Sports,
Inc.
Saul Good Gift Co
Free Range Studio
s
Seventh Generatio
Give Something Ba
n
ck
Singlebrook Techno
GoLite
logy
Siw Thai Silk, Inc.
goodfocus, llc
Southern Energy Ma
Greyston Bakery, Inc
nagement
.
SpeakShop
Green Awakening
Sunlight and Powe
Green Building Se
r
rvices
Sustainable Harve
Green Retirement
st
Plans, Inc.
Sustainable Indust
Greenerprinter
ries
Sustainable Soluti
Guayaki
ons
Traditional Medicina
Hanson Bridgett LLP
ls
TS Designs, Inc.
Herbalist & Alchem
ist
Turtle Love
Human Investing
UnCommon Good
iContact Corp
s
Untours
Impact Makers, Inc
.
Vedante
Indigenous Designs
Corporation
Wendel Rosen
Inspire Commerce
Working Excellence
KINeSYS Inc.
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