Finisterre CMO: Becoming a B Corp isn’t a marketing campaign

I’ve been lucky enough to work for two B Corp certified businesses in my career, most recently in my current role at Finisterre.  We were the first UK outdoor apparel brand to achieve B Corp status back in 2018, and are in the midst of our second recertification process now.  For anyone who has achieved it or is in the midst of it, I tip my hat to you; it’s hard.

As one of the bigger B Corps in the UK community, I get to speak on panels and attend events with lots of like-minded marketers — and without a doubt, the most common question I’m asked is whether or not being a B Corp is a good tool for marketing.

For many marketers, they see becoming a B Corp as a way to signal to their customers that they are one of the “good guys”, to distinguish themselves from their competitors, to ride the sustainability “trend”.  These are all well-intentioned but deeply flawed mistakes.

As much as someone needs to drive the work to achieve B Corp status, if it’s only seen as a marketing activation, it will never be taken seriously by the rest of the organisation.  Which will inevitably lead to the first massive hurdle — you’ll never achieve it if you treat it as a marketing campaign, let alone maintain it.  It’s too hard, too complex, too time consuming.  

For B Corp to truly work it has to be embedded across every level of your organisation.  It’s in the boardroom and it’s in your weekly stand ups.  It’s across your supply chain and in your P&L.  It changes the way you think about future-proofing your business, engaging with your employees, and driving your profitability.

Being a B Corp isn’t about being better for business, it’s about being better for the planet.  And it’s not perfect.  In the last few weeks my echo-chamber of a linkedIn feed has been humming with conversation and outrage after a few famously B Corp brands have said that they won’t be renewing.  To them, the certification is no longer “hard enough” after several multi-nationals brands have achieved it.  They said that B Corp is “more than just a marketing campaign” to them, and that to have the logo on their packaging alongside these other brands just wasn’t good enough.Ahhh the irony.  They claim it’s not a marketing campaign, and yet they get pissed off when they feel like their ability to market it will be sacrificed or diluted by other brands.

B Corp isn’t perfect, but nothing in sustainability is.  And the current standards do need to improve (spoiler alert, they are!)  There is no silver bullet to solving how our capitalist society can function with depleting environmental resources, but gatekeeping who can and cannot try to be better feels like a dangerous mentality.  We need the big corporations to look at B Corp seriously; and if they achieve and then maintain their scores then that can only be a good thing, a signal to larger businesses as a whole that you can be better for the planet without sacrificing your profit.

The new B Corp standards due to be rolled out this year are going to be a huge step change from the current standards (which were written back in 2019 — a lot has changed in the world since then.)  To quote the ineffable Jessica Ferrow of the agency Twelve, “it’s about progress, not perfection.”  

Imagine a world where the majority of for-profit businesses have gone through the rigour of B Corp certification.  Who have thoughtfully and meaningfully investigated and then taken responsibility for their supply chain.  Who pay all their employees fairly.  Who are legally obliged to consider all stakeholder interests, not just shareholders.   This is the new 10 year vision for B Corp in the UK, one where all UK businesses act as a 'force for good' by default, operating for the benefit of all their stakeholders

We will never solve the climate crisis via marketing.  But if each and every business tries just a little bit harder, makes small changes each and every day, raises awareness of their impact and tries to minimise it, then I do believe we can have meaningful impact.  But it will take all of us, not just the marketing department.

PS: it would feel like a disservice to the B Corp community if I didn’t reference how being a better business is actually good for business.  Below are some of the latest stats out of the UK.

📈 Between 2023 and 2024, UK small-to-medium-sized B Corps saw:

👉 A 23.2% revenue increase, outpacing the national average of 16.8% for SMEs

👉 A 9.6% growth in employee headcount, while SMEs nationwide experienced a 0.5% decline

And Happy B Corp month to all who celebrate!