After speaking with Katrina Larkin, co-founder of The Big Chill festival, I got to thinking about brand values. She helped pioneer the idea of the ‘boutique’ festival, and, 14 years later, while many others have emerged she is one of the few who still owns and runs the event herself and has resisted the temptation to sell up, when even Glastonbury is now part-owned by US media conglomerate Clear Channel.
Neither does she have any plans to give The Big Chill a multinational telecommunications company's name as a prefix, or have similar headline sponsorship deals that make festival goers wonder whether they’re on holiday or in a shopping mall.
That’s not to say she doesn’t work with sponsors, but she makes sure they have strong green credentials in keeping with the festival’s ethos of sustainability, where guests are urged to recycle and ‘leave no trace’. Sponsors’ logos are not in your face and they must bring something creative along to give guests a pleasurable experience rather than leaving them feeling that they’re being sold something. And do you know what, business is booming. Chillfest now owns two successful bars in London and organises events around the world.
Staying true to your beliefs and what your brand stands for makes business sense. In fact, doing anything but these days is becoming an increasingly risky proposition. Just look at the backlash created by The Body Shop selling to L'Oreal or Innocent selling fruit drinks in McDonalds.
Consumers are starting to put their money where their mouth is, especially when it comes to social causes. Socially responsible investing is a recognised and established sector, with an estimated £80bn in occupational pension schemes.
The Co-operative Bank launched its ethical positioning in 1992 and it hasn’t backed down. It doesn’t lend customers’ money to businesses who trade in fur, arms to dealers who supply oppressive regimes, to big corporates with poor environmental policies, or whatever else its customers want. This is the sell in its new TV ad-campaign, which proudly reveals that the bank has refused £700m loans to companies that it deems unethical. It marks the dawn of a time where companies need to think carefully about their brand identity.
In a recent interview with social entrepreneur Tim Campbell, I asked him what he thought of it. "It’s brilliant," he said. "And you’ll see it more and more now, where customers are demanding to know what brands are doing to help people who are less fortunate. Greed isn’t good any more.”