Responsible branding is meaningless without data
The South West has the largest number of B Corps in the UK outside London, yet we rarely hear about them in the media. Why is this? Answer: a fear of greenwashing is stimulating the rise of a new phenomena – greenhushing.
Over the last six months, we’ve advised over 70 B Corp businesses and brands on their PR strategy. These organisations range from one of the world’s largest beauty and wellness brands employing 100,000+ people to one of the South West’s fastest growing law firms.
But they all face a set of shared reputational challenges. The most prevalent of these is overcoming the fear of being labelled as a ‘greenwasher’ to the extent that they become a ‘greenhusher’ – silent about their great ESG (environment, social and governance) stories to the media. This, arguably, is an even bigger crime in my view.
In this article, we’ll look at some of those challenges. We’ll provide advice for those responsible for the reputation management of their B Corp organisation when communicating their environmental and social impact stories.
It is my hope that said individuals will gain greater confidence in how they ‘sell’ their stories to the media and steer well clear of being labelled as opportunistic or guilty of ‘greenwashing.’
From moment to momentum
The number of certified business has seen a seven-fold increase since Clearly PR became only the second PR firm in the South West to gain B Corp status back in 2021. Back then, there were just 400 of us in the UK. Today, that number has climbed to 2,494. That’s a rise of 454%, or six-fold increase.
Within that number, there are some interesting statistics as we found out when we formally requested the latest figures from B Labs UK on the total number of B Corps in the UK today. Most notable is the regional breakdown of B Corps in the UK:
- London: 1,100
- South West: 400
- South East: 340
- North East: 30
- Northern Ireland: 15
- Scotland: 90
- Yorkshire: 75
- Wales: 50
- North West: 130
- East Midlands: 60
- East of England: 120
- West Midlands: 80
- Channel Islands: 4
[Source: B Labs UK, March 2024)]
There are several reasons for this incredible growth.
Good growth drivers
First, there is a growing awareness of the need to become a more responsible business and the benefits this delivers from both a reputation and bottom-line perspective. And second, the rapid rise of the conscious consumer, which was sparked by the pandemic, has evolved from being of the moment into a movement with no sign of slowing down.
Whilst the growth of the B Corp movement has been nothing short of phenomenal, especially in the South West, the challenge facing all B Corps is in communicating their great sustainable and community related stories in ways that enhance their brand and amplify the causes they support without becoming the subject of backlash from customers or the media accusing them of ‘greenwashing’ or ‘purpose washing.’
Indeed, the number of instances of organisations exaggerating their environmental and social impact claims has exploded since 2020. Although measures have been put in place to penalise those organisations found guilty of greenwashing customers in their marketing and PR, cases remain unacceptably high. This means that organisations need to think and re-think the way in which they communicate their B Corp status and ESG (environment, social and governance) initiatives.
Fear can paralyse PR efforts, but data can overcome this and amplify stories
Our experience in providing strategic PR advice to over 70 B Corps in the last six months alone is that many of them are sitting on a wealth of great stories that they’re afraid to go public with for the reasons outlined above. But it doesn’t need to be like that. The key to getting the ‘right’ kind of attention is in ditching the use of hyperbolic language in favour of providing tangibles that show the impact of these actions.
- See: Clearly PR’s Free 30-Minute PR Consultation Service for B Corps
This is an important point to make. We see all too often B Corp businesses promoting the fact they are gifting X% of net revenue to social initiatives each year or they have planted 10,000 trees, for example. But such statements mean nothing without context and often lead customers to question how genuine they are.
Any claim made needs to be backed up. In the first example, the business could say: “Based on a predicted growth rate of 15% that will take us to net revenues of £1,000,000 over the next 12 months. This means that the business will be able to allocate £10,000 to fund skills training for 60 people across the South West and help them gain meaningful employment.”
See: Clearly PR’s ESG Comms service
Similarly, stating that the organisation has planted 10,000 trees over the last 12 months is great, but so what? This is where most businesses stop and invite criticism. They could try adding that “this saw us remove 100,000 kgs of CO2 from the atmosphere – the equivalent to taking 21 cars off Britain’s roads this year.”
Being a B Corp is not enough to win media attention – there’s simpy too many of us for journalists to take note of
The trap that many B Corps fall into is thinking that all they must do to build credibility is promote the fact they are a certified business. You could get away with that in 2021 when there were just 400 of us who were certified, but not now. Customers are immune to such claims, and they want to know, So what?
Tangible data adds meaning to your story. It is the only way that organisations can avoid accusations of greenwashing and purpose washing and ensure that your brand stands apart from all others.
