Three agencies create a unifying identity to be adopted by thousands of B Corps this month

Today (1 March), B Lab Global launches its B Corp Month campaign with a coinciding identity that can be adopted by 4,600 businesses worldwide, aiming to build an understanding of the environmental certification and advertise their B Corp status. The identity presents the unique design challenge of creating something that offers universal solutions, and provides businesses flexibility. This year, the concept and identity for the campaign, entitled Behind the B, has been created by three brands and agencies; London-based creative agency Nice and Serious, Falmouth-based branding agency Kingdom and Sparrow, and Innocent’s in-house creative team.

Last week, an animated ad for Innocent drinks was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the grounds that it was “misleading”; the ASA said the ad implied that purchasing Innocent products “would have a positive environmental impact when that was not the case”. Innocent responded to comments from the ASA by discussing its status as a B Corp company, drawing criticism from advocacy group Plastics Rebellion. Innocent worked on messaging and copy on Behind the B.

The release explains that accessibility and versatility were key focus areas on the identity; the three agencies had to create “adaptable assets” for thousands of B Corps to activate the campaign across social media, experiential, OOH and shopper. While the design had to be flexible enough to sit against each business’ existing branding, an “eye-catching, positive colour palette” was also utilised, explains Chris Porter, Kingdom & Sparrow design innovations director.

The recognisable B logo has been turned into a “window” that allows viewers to look “behind the B” into the work behind becoming a B-Corp company. Helvetica Neue Bold is used as a heading typeface, and a B-based pattern system has been developed to layer into layouts, and add vibrancy.

While normally just one agency or brand will create the identity for the B Corp month campaign, this year Nice and Serious aimed to “to embody [the] collaborative spirit” of the B Corp movement through its partnership with Kingdom and Sparrow and Innocent, says Tom Tapper, Nice and Serious co-founder.

Chris Porter says: “The challenge in creating a unified design language for global B Corps was a significant one! Behind the B needed to work for SMEs just as well as it did for multinationals, factoring in design capabilities across the board… we’ve created a versatile but strong visual language that will unify all B Corp brands – no matter how big or small.”

Thousands of B Corps have planned to simultaneously activate the campaign globally today, including retail activations in Waitrose, Holland & Barrett and WH Smith and other retail activations in France, Brazil and the USA.