Defining Your Purpose
Watching my father reclaim materials from old mills to create something new instilled an early appreciation of sustainability through design. Before it was a buzzword.?We'd put on yellow jackets, hard hats and visit the demolition sites of The North, doing our best to get timber from the skips before it would be burnt. It was baffling to us that the wood would be burnt over being re–used. The idea that you can make something from nothing influenced the ethos of Alexandra Lunn Studio, where we now facilitate workshops aimed at unlocking that elusive 'AHA' moment for brands looking to make a significant impact.
Today though, it feels like you can't move without hearing another commitment to corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and waste reduction. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) packages or becoming a 'B Corp' requires some jumping through hoops and making promises, but customers are increasingly sceptical about the value of such commitments.
Creating anything uses energy and generates waste. While it's commendable to aim for sustainability, it's crucial to avoid inadvertently inviting accusations of greenwashing by not fully understanding and acknowledging the impact of your business. Producing apparently eco-friendly products is of course a positive step, but if an underlying process or side effect of production is not genuinely sustainable, it may harm rather than help your brand. It's great to want to do good, but it's not so great to get it wrong and find ourselves on the wrong end of claims of hypocrisy.
If you’d like to avoid being perceived as a business that greenwashes and would like to learn how your brand can have a social impact, tomorrow, Wednesday, February 5th morning I'll be collaborating with purpose–branding expert Victor Hijzen to host an interactive workshop at Home Grown Club where attendees will engage in exercises designed to help them articulate their brand's mission and values. We'll explore topics such as:
Each part of the workshop is carefully designed to equip participants with the tools to refine their brand identity in alignment with their core values and market expectations.
Join us on February 5th at 08:30am, where we will continue to explore these themes. Within the workshop we'll be also covering how partnerships can impact and positively influence your brand. Specifically, we will be looking at how LUSH's partnership with Headway East London created a positive impression for the brand and fits with its ethos.
Breakfast and coffee will be provided and the workshop will help you to understand how you can apply insights around partnerships, purpose and creating societal change to your business, without reverse engineering anything or making stuff up.
Purchase your ticket now – a portion of the ticket sales will go to Headway East London and you'll also have the opportunity to meet likeminded founders while growing your brand prowess.
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