Start Up Story — Branding and Mission

I don’t think I’d realised how difficult it was going to be to work out an effective identity for our light bulb service business. However it’s been an enjoyable process working with Rich Gilbert of The Agency of Design to create our new entity (Spoiler — we haven’t finished yet!)

We have whittled the name choices down to a few from 250 and are now testing them with colleagues, friends and bluntly, anyone who will listen! Of course we all have our own favourites but we have to swallow our egos and use what works best. Having said that, we are going to have to make a choice in the coming week as time is moving on and we need to begin working on our crowdfunding campaign — difficult to do without a name!

However, to a certain extent we have been putting cart before horse. While we all know what we are trying to do we haven’t distilled that into a concise mission statement and let that guide our final choice. I’ve always been slightly sceptical about such prescriptive commitments, perhaps because I’ve never had a business with quite such a clear focus, but it was clear it was critical in this case if only to gather all our disparate thoughts.

So we’ve distilled it down to this:

Create the highest performing, most beautiful and long lasting products, designed for remanufacturing.

Create amazing value for customers, team and investors by making, providing and locally remaking those products efficiently, eliminating waste at all stages of the supply loop, creating jobs and helping to protect the environment for future generations.

Provide a community platform for people to buy, lease and return those and other products that can be regenerated.

It seems to cover all that we have set out to achieve but I’ve no doubt we will iterate it a few more times yet. We’ve also been working on our values, as these will show we’re walking the walk:

We will:

• Treat all internally and externally as we would like to be treated.
• Be open in all reporting and correspondence.
• Continually strive to eliminate waste in all parts of the business and create a positive impact on the environment.

I guess we could add substantially to that and may well do in time but it’s a good start.

So we now have a very clear mission and values which will guide us forward as the business develops. The trick will be persuading potential customers that we can provide a great and affordable experience that takes lighting in the home to a different level. Oh — and we have to persuade potential investors too!

That’s led us to start developing a pitch to use both for a video and in person. This is what we’ve come up with so far (name to be added):

The lighting industry has always used planned obsolescence to drive its business model. Even now, with the change to LED technology, continuous cost reductions are reducing product quality. That leads to a pain for consumers and a massive waste problem, with 6bn lamps thrown away every year. That’s nearly one for every person on the planet. With bulbs containing increasingly rare materials, some of which are dangerous, it’s crucial this waste is eliminated both for today and for future generations.

Two years ago, our team of designers and engineers set out on a mission to reinvent the humble light bulb. We have a different vision; of beautiful, long lived light bulbs that can be remade over and over again.

So we’ve created Company Name, providing good looking ultra efficient light bulbs through an affordable service, direct to your home. Failing lamps will be a thing of the past as they’re replaced every three years; the old products being fully regenerated locally to the highest efficiency, reusing over 95% of their content directly into new bulbs.

Bringing together two of the leading teams in lighting technology and the circular economy, Cool-Curve and The Agency of Design, Company Name has been backed by Innovate UK.

99% of residential light bulbs are put in the bin. We want 99% to be remanufactured and continue to provide fabulous lighting.

So join the Company Name community, upgrade your lighting and fight the waste.

We’re testing this with a number of people both as a spoken piece and written, so if you have any comments they’d be gratefully received.

I look forward to hearing from you.