Woohoo! The Sponge is now a B Corp

My Serendipitous Introduction to B Corp

In May 2016 an author friend (thanks Drew) asked me if I was familiar with B Corporations after I shared a project I had conceived to change the world.

The idea centres around a new rating system and standard for businesses. One that is more about people and positive impact than making shareholders wealthy. If you’re guessing it’s BrandLight, you are right.

Here I was, creating my own model from scratch, feeling alone in the quest and making slow headway. Then I got the serendipitous introduction to B Lab. They are the non profit who created and assesses B Corps.

My Kind of People!

What I found in B Labs was a group of people who think about business in a similar way to me. After meeting some awesome B Corp business folks, I felt I had found my community.

The standards resonated ferociously for The Sponge. It was a no brainer to make the commitment. So we completed the B Impact Assessment and officially became certified in January 2017!

B Corp Logo

Being a Certified B Corp means we meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance.

It’s much more than that though! I thought as a relatively small branding agency it would be plain sailing to tick all the boxes and get certified. But there were significant internal changes to be made and processes to be improved for us to qualify.

The process united our team around our somewhat unspoken purpose to do more good in this world.

Due to spending the time on it, it built the momentum we needed to expand on it and evolve our purpose, vision and values too. You know how much I like purpose, but it is rare that we stop to work on our own business. More on that in a future piece.

What It Means For The Sponge

Being a B Corp now guides decisions about our projects, and who we choose to do business with.

Specifically, we choose to work with clients and projects that are socially responsible, ethical, and environmentally sustainable. And those that have a positive impact too!

The Sponge still specialise in purposeful brand stories, branding, and marketing for businesses. We soak it all in, and squeeze out the goodness.

Using Business as a Force for Good

We now consciously look for ways to reduce our wake. Whether that be by cutting electricity consumption, to commissioning smaller commercial print runs. The future (a goal at the time of writing) includes Tesla company cars and solar infrastructure to keep them charged. 🙂

A Bright B Corp Inspired Future

Being a B Corp lights up our team, small as it is. It is our clear commitment to better the world, and today this is so important for us. Our team have committed to the business more than ever before.

As a newbie in the B Corp community, we are excited to see what our future holds. Having had meaningful conversations with amazing B Corps already, the prospect of over 2000 is very exciting!

There are sure to be many more priceless conversations and we look forward to inspiring others and growing with B Corp.

Are you a B Corp, or thinking of becoming one?

 

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  • Daniel says:

    That’s amazing, love it! We are very much alike in this because both ends don’t really speak to me, neither only-for-profit nor the idea that profit is supposed to be a bad thing…

    Congrats my friend!

  • […] That’s why we are a proud B Corp. Read more about our B Corp Certification journey here. […]

  • […] Sponge is proud to be a Certified B Corp. We believe business can be a powerful vehicle to create real, positive impact in the […]

  • […] January 2017, The Sponge became a certified B Corp and we couldn’t have been more excited. We were finally part of something […]

  • Humbling Words From Awesome People

    • The Sponge is enabling small business to focus on essential elements of marketing/strategy. I used to go in circles and best guess engagement with customers; I didn’t understand my target market. The Sponge gave me a real wake-up call: To realise how much time and money I was throwing away for no return. The learning was interesting and interactive. Now, I feel in control and focused.

      Sue Lea Timely Business Solutions
    • We were in the middle of re-branding and wanted to know how better to market our product including how better to tell our story. This webinar provided practical marketing techniques, and rationale to explain the benefit of this strategy. The 'light bulb' moment for me was making the connection between the power of storytelling and marketing our brand.

      Susan Perry CEO CommunityGro
    • Branding is a familiar concept to comms & marketing professionals like myself. But it’s often a mystery to other staff, and for brand to be authentic, unique and indispensable they all need to be on board. This training helped me clarify branding to everyone in our organisation. Now they’re all part of the brand redevelopment crew, identifying and sharing stories that resonate with our values and purpose. Thanks, Luke, for launching our journey to uncover the brand that ‘comes from within’.

      Avril Janks Communications and Marketing Coordinator
    • The Sponge’s perceptive sensibility guarantees a perfect match between your business and its presentation to the world. They makes your values, ethics, goals, and the 'feel' of your business shine through every aspect of your brand.

      Geoff Walker Sydney Massage Time Pty Ltd
    • I recommend The Sponge’s services to new and established organizations who are looking to differentiate themselves from the “ordinary” and stand out from the crowd.

      Annette Wright InfoGenesis Pty Limited
    • One of Luke’s talents is his ability to move people and organizations from the creative to the innovative, commercializing ideas and inventions.

      Rodney Marks Hoax Speaker
    • I have had The Sponge involved in several IT based projects over my years working as a Software Developer. Each project has seen results that have exceeded expectations and I highly recommend them.

      Shane Wisniewski Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety
    • I usually don’t believe in one stop shops, because of the inability to be great across many areas, but The Sponge truly are the one stop shop for brand creation, innovation and lead generation.

      Mark Capelin Tribe Social Fitness
    • Luke and the crew at the Sponge helped set up our Corporate image as it stands today. They were extremely helpful and patient. They took the time to understand our business and brainstormed with us some of the essential elements and came up with various images until we were happy with the final one. Can't recommend Luke and his team enough. Thanks again Luke.

      Kim Lie Jom Complete Health Chiropractic
    • The Sponge team are great to work with. They translate your ideas and vision into something real and tangible and they truly want to make an impact to your business strategy with their valuable insights. We have been using them for over 10 years and would highly recommend their expertise.

      M Levonian William, Thyme & Prophet / Report Factory
    • A great vibe and energy brought to every project that The Sponge have led for me. Easy to work with, quick on the uptake of direction and prompt service. Will definitely be using The Sponge again and highly recommend.

      Lucette King NSW Department of Education
    • High level strategic thinking and their creativity makes them stand out. Quick turn around time and reasonable price make them the winner every single time.

      Syed Mujtuba Crescent Wealth
    • Awesome company with awesome creativity. After working with them over 2 years, The Sponge has successfully turned me from a happy customer into a raving fan!

      Jeremy Chen Claytan Australia
    • Great creative proactive company. Could not be happier with the works they both provided and suggested. Now our go to company for branding.

      Ross Thompson JHA Engineers
    • Awesome design. Easy to work with. Jobs are completed quickly. Highly recommended.

      Alexander Bont BONT
    • Luke and the team at the Sponge are truly artisans of their craft. They're AWARE, they DARE and DELIVER.

      Claude Di Ciano Richardson & Wrench Willoughby
    • Love their vision, love their work and mostly love the team!

      C. S. Chen Claytan Australia
    • The Sponge truly immersed themselves into our business, our team and our culture to develop a brand that not only captured our essence but more importantly; expressed it to the world.

      Mende Seljanovski Enth° Projects
    • The Sponge have been outstanding to work with. Their expertise, dedication and outstanding quality of work is second to none. I am grateful for their input into the design of our brand and website.

      Matt Malouf The Fortune Institute
    • Our brand looks better than we could have dreamed and The Sponge team managed to squeeze so much meaning into it that our prospects really get a sense of how we can help them.

      Darren Vardy Insolvency Options

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