Why stop at selling?

A provocation for mission-led businesses

What if mission-led businesses treated their customers as citizens, not just consumers?

What if ethical businesses did more than sell ethical products?

What if companies didn’t just “deliver” purpose, but built platforms for customers to participate in creative and surprising ways in service of a common cause?

What if rather than tweaking the menu, we let people into the kitchen?

In 2021, we’re making “mission-led” business a major focus of our work at the New Citizenship Project. As a proud B Corporation, we’re part of this movement ourselves, and we believe it could be doing so much more.

It’s true that purpose-driven firms are radically rethinking sourcing practices, product design, circular value chains, marketing, employee voice and stakeholder engagement in order to build a more equitable and sustainable economy. But it’s all happening behind the counter.

The products may be game-changing and the services may be disruptive, but when it comes to the customer, too often the imagination falters. The dominant view of the customer is frozen in time: they are still the well-meaning but time-pressed, price-sensitive consumer.

This is a huge blind spot. We must start to see customers as the creative citizens that they are. Citizens want to reshape the world for the better, with their own hands, and crave opportunities for agency, belonging and taking part. They are much, much more than just transactional consumers in search of the most credible sustainability story and the most affordable ‘ethical premium’.

Until we break with that consumer narrative, we fear that business will never become a truly decisive force for good. That is a huge shift in thinking from the marketing departments of these businesses, and a massive challenge. How do you invite people not just to buy products from you, but to buy into what your company is trying to do in the world; not just to market, but to matter?

What we’ve found so far

In 2020 we held a series of online gatherings to poke around this issue and hear insights from a diverse range of mission-led firms (thank you so much to everyone who took part!). We learned that:

• Many people in the purposeful business world are excited by the idea of using business as a platform to increase participation in important causes, but we all define participation differently.
• Mission-led businesses are increasingly focusing on using their influence within their value chains to effect positive change, e.g. by opening up conversations with suppliers about sustainable business practices or B Corp certification, etc.
• Others are focusing on building deeper relationships with their communities, enhancing and diversifying social impact through partnerships with community organisations.

All of this is positive and necessary work. As far as customers are concerned, however, there is a strong gravitational pull towards treating the act of buying as the default mode of participation.

We feel that a big prize is being missed. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we sense that there are huge rewards on offer for those brave enough to step into the Citizen Era and radically reimagine the customer relationship.

Platforms for agency

Businesses can be gathering places for collective action. We are inspired by:

• Organic veg box supplier Riverford Farms organising “Grow Your Own Veg Patch” workshops and cookery courses
• Body-positive intimates, apparel and activewear brand Aerie hosting talks and workshops, creating a platform for activists and customers to discuss and share about body confidence, relationships and their visions and goals
• Co-op Group organising its members to petition their local councils to introduce food waste collection so that Co-op could roll out compostable carrier bags and reduce plastic use
• Renewable energy supplier Good Energy recruiting 12–18 year olds to its Good Future Board, with a brief to “tell adults when they are wrong”

In each case, the business is working with and through their customers, tapping into and cultivating their energy and agency, rather than simply doing good things on their behalf. This creates an entirely different starting point for building a customer relationship. Rather than the customer thinking, “what can this brand do for the causes I care about?”, the customer asks, “what can this brand and I do together?”.

We have already worked with one B Corp to explore and embed some of this thinking, which gave us confidence in the practical applications of this idea. There is clearly space for a few truly transformative enterprises to step up, grab this opportunity and make business a people-powered force for good.

Because if you want your business to change the world, why stop at selling?

If you’re excited by the idea of boosting your commercial and social impact by embracing the power of participation, then we’d love to have a chat with you!

Find out more about our work on our website, connect on Twitter, or email us at info@newcitizenship.org.uk

We want to draw attention to two recent articles that have helped to sharpen our thinking:

• Anna Fielding of Cohere Partners argued for less of an obsession on labels and sorting the good guys from the bad guys, and more focus on building an impact-led strategy backed by a strong theory of change — including identifying who you need to work with to achieve your goals and what you expect them to bring.
• Elizabeth Cline reflected on the “twilight of the ethical consumer”, in a piece which reminds us that there was once an era when “consumer activists” sought to organise collectively to change systems and root causes, rather than just making individual consumption decisions and trusting in market signals.

Also, thank you to Michael Alberg-Seberich, author of the Corporate Social Mind, for the Aerie example, shared during a lunch & learn hosted by our friends at Firetail.

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