Purpose Champions

This is the first article in a series where we’ll be championing those who inspire us personally and professionally. We asked six GOOD people to share their Purpose Champion, with Purpose defined as:

The demonstration of positive impact on relevant social and environmental issues, to create value for individuals, the business and wider society.

Louis Cochrane, Brand Designer – BECO SOAP

BECO is a sustainable soap brand set up by award-winning social enterprise, CLARITY–The Soap Co.

The name itself stands for Better Considered.

80% of BECO’s staff are visually impaired, disabled or disadvantaged. And they were set up with the purpose of giving these people a pathway into employment.

They came to the media’s attention in 2019 with their campaign, Steal Our Staff, where they encouraged other companies to recruit their staff. According to BECO, in 2019, 52% of disabled people in the UK were employed, compared with 82% of the general population. Their goal is to change that. As part of the campaign, they printed pictures of their staff, alongside a quote, on their packaging. The goal is to humanise the people behind the statistics in the hope that companies don’t overlook people with disabilities when hiring.

I admire them because not only was the brand set up with the intention of helping a marginalised group of society gain meaningful employment, they also sell a product that is kind to the planet. Their soap is made from eco-friendly ingredients, vegan and 97% organic.

Becky Martin, Account Manager – Upcircle

Upcircle is a purpose champion who centres their skincare business around stopping usable ingredients from going to waste. Their core mission is to leave the world in a better place than when they found it.

What started as collecting used coffee grounds from cafes in London to make a scrub, turned into a full skincare range made up of discarded ingredients like chai spices, hemp and fruit stones. For example, their first batch of soap bars saved 5 tonnes of aromatic chai spices from being thrown away. Their values focus on creating vegan, cruelty-free, ocean-friendly products in 100% recyclable packaging which fight waste. Even their name hints at how the circular economy sits at the heart of everything they do.

As a vegetarian, who is desperately trying to reduce their plastic usage, I really love that Upcircle is leading such positive change in a very consumer heavy market. Also, all of their products smell divine!

Katie Daley, Business Administrator – COOK

While on the surface COOK Food might just look like a frozen meal provider, they do so much more. From the founding of COOK in 1997, their driving purpose has been to nourish people’s relationship with not only food but with each other through business, work, and communities.

In 2013 they became one of the UK’s first certified B Corporations and it is easy to see why. They have over a dozen of programmes and initiatives that are good for the world and good for people. To name a few; They fund a project that supplies new efficient stoves to families in Kenya, they have donated over 1 million free school meals in Malawi, they dispatch any leftover food to ‘Caring Hand’s in the Community’ a Church based charity who cook and serve hot food to hundreds of people who need it. The list goes on.

One of their programmes really stands out to me, their ‘RAW Programme’ meaning ‘Ready and Working’ which supports people who may have spent time in prison or don’t have secure housing to find a steady job and hopefully help them get back on their feet.

I admire all that they do locally and globally, plus they serve amazing home-cooked meals!

Holly Marling, Account Manager – Lego

To me, Lego is a clear Purpose champion because of its deep-seated mission to inspire and develop children into a positive and fulfilled future.

Its purpose is centred around the endlessness of human possibility and seeks to create a platform for children to grow and express their creativity, systematic thinking, and decision-making capabilities through a simple yet universally effective tool: the power of play. Its mission statement, ‘Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow’, encapsulates its core drive to provide children with the tools to build valuable life skills in a fun and engaging setting.

The brand realises its purpose through allowing children to express their positive interests through Lego bricks, encouraging them to explore important topics like environmental and societal responsibility.

I love that a simple idea like learning through play creates such an accessible yet succinct road map for empowering and engaging the younger generation.

Lucy Martin, Marketing Exec – Oatly

A challenger and born-with-purpose brand. As a sector leader in the vegan milk space, Oatly’s communications have always really impressed me. I first encountered the brand on my daily Shoreditch commute past a litany of hipster cafes. Their launch campaign cleverly blended into the East London Aesthetic and targeted the baristas themselves. Soon every café was stocking the stuff. A very clever use of ‘social proof’ to convince everyday consumers to make the switch to oat milk.

Since their launch, their marketing has become bigger and bolder. More recently, I’ve loved their ‘Talk to Dad’ and ‘Are You Stupid?’ campaigns. The ad-nerd in me always tries to guess the insights and internal thought processes that drove both campaigns. They’re a great example of a purposeful brand that doesn’t take itself too seriously which resonates perfectly with their target audience.