KEMOSABE IS CERTIFIED B CORP

The definition of KEMOSABE is ‘faithful friend, trusty scout.’ When we founded the agency in 2016, this definition perfectly captured the core personality traits we adhered to of ‘integrity’ and our desire to be a ‘force for good.’

We perhaps, naively thought that becoming a B Corp would be a walk in the park. But I must admit when your business is shaken to its core, you unpack things you hadn’t even considered to be reviewed previously. That and a dollop of unforeseen Covid 19 and all that it threw at us made for an extra challenging journey.

Two years on, a pandemic, and Kemosabe and everything else for that matter, turned upside down, we finally made it. Our very own certification and legal commitment to uphold the values of B Corp, now and forever, amen.

The B Corp verification process is administered by non-profit B Lab and measures a company’s social and environmental performance. To become a Certified B Corp company involves a rigorous review of the impact of the operation and business model on workers, customers, communities, and environment.

Today there are 6,279 businesses globally who have certified as B Corps and over 1,100 companies in the UK. These include well-known brands such as The Guardian, innocent, Patagonia, The Body Shop, and organic food pioneers Abel & Cole… and now Kemosabe.

You may ask why bother?! Well, we took a long hard look in the mirror and though we were confident in how we behaved, in terms of social and environmental governance, we were all too aware of the ease at which some companies green wash. However, B Corp is way too rigorous a process and quickly weeds out the doers from the bullshitters. For us, that just worked, we were in.

To that point, a recent report commissioned by the European Commission found that 42 percent of companies exaggerate sustainability claims. Conversely, the Natural Marketing Institute discovered that 58 percent of US customers consider the company’s impact in the environment when making a purchase.

The moral of the story here is – there are no short cuts.

For those who are on the right side of the line, the difficulty can be to avoid the temptation to decouple a creative strategy from a brand’s ESGs. They are, after all, both integral to each other. It’s by interweaving and constructing a brand’s story through its values and mission that a brand starts to build a personality that’s authentic that talks to the 58%. When done properly, a business becomes much more than just, say the biggest. It becomes a far greater value. Success measured by financial gain alone feels like an ugly and dated metrics, and one that I think will have to shift over the coming years.

Kemosabe is B Corp. Part of a movement that is only growing. We love the endorsement because we know what it’s taken and that’s why we bothered. Our customers know who and what we are, so too the team who work for us and those who perhaps want to. The same applies to our suppliers and vice-versa, as they are all a part of this journey. Ultimately, how we behave environmentally is here on show too.

Creative and Branding experts are the guardians to influence great change in mindsets – we change behaviour, identify consumer needs, and lead the adaptation of a new way of thinking, of habits and lifestyles. We as an industry have a lot to live up to and a huge responsibility to uphold.

Finally, we know we are part of a growing movement that is changing the way business can think and think successfully.

If you share the same values or wish to better demonstrate those values, then come and talk to us.