Balancing Profit & Purpose feat. Purplefish

Purplefish is a UK-based PR, communications and digital agency specialising in tech, property, and purpose-led organisations — including charities and not-for-profits.

In this blog, Purplefish shares their journey to becoming a B Corp, why certification was the right step for the business, and how it’s helping them drive positive impact for their clients, employees, and community, all while achieving the highest B Corp score in their region.

For some background information, who are you as a business and what makes your business offering unique?

We are Purplefish – a UK PR, comms and digital agency specialising in tech, property and purpose-focused organisations – including not-for-profits and charities.

We offer insight-led communications and marketing campaigns. Our strong values-based ethos, which is reflected in our B Corp certification and employee ownership status, means we can offer clients a unique perspective that helps them stand out.

What got you interested in joining the B Corp movement and what does being a B Corp mean to you?

We have been a B Corp business since 2021 and we originally joined the movement because my personal view as the agency founder has always been that businesses should be run as a force for good and beyond the profit-focus that has traditionally been hard-baked into company structures.

The B Corp certification is an important, internationally recognised framework for us. It has become a kitemark for businesses which operate a triple bottom line of people, purpose and profit. Day-to-day, it’s a pragmatic way of keeping track of collective actions that we as a company have committed to. It helps us stay accountable in our mission to make a positive impact on the people we work with, our community and the environment.

It’s also great being part of a community of likeminded people and I have met some very inspiring individuals since we became a B Corp business.

We have just recertified and been awarded the highest B Corp score in our region – something which, as a team, we are all immensely proud of.

Can you share a little bit about your B Corp story, what the process was like for you?

We started the process of certification during the pandemic. It was something I had wanted us to do for a long time before that but, as a small business, time and resource had always been barriers to committing to the process.

The whole assessment took about 6-8 months to complete in 2020 and then we achieved our certification in February 2021 with a score of 109.

Following the certification, it’s been good to have the rigour of doing an annual impact report, and since our certification, we have really been able to use it as a focus for ongoing continual improvements. The B Corp journey also led us to transition to an employee ownership model, which felt like the next step in our journey.

We have just recertified and that was also a significant amount of work, but very worthwhile as it looks across all aspects of the business.

In your case, what does it mean for your workers, customers, community and environmental considerations?

Being a B Corp means we focus on these three areas and have specific targets for each, enabling us to track progress, which we do through a monthly team B Corp lunch meeting to ensure everyone in the team remains involved and included.

We are on the path to being a carbon-neutral business and we are proactively working to address the lack of diversity in our own industry. We also work together to volunteer for local causes and have a nominated charity each year. This year, it’s the Julian Trust that provides meals and beds to the homeless community.

We also provide pro bono services to organisations which would not ordinarily be able to use an agency and regularly engage with a broad range of community groups and initiatives to give advice talks. For example, we have a relationship with a local record label which promotes music of black origin to provide PR and social media advice to its emerging artists and trainee manager cohorts. We have also recently been involved with an initiative spearheaded by the Bristol Beacon to improve diversity in event management and production and are part of the annual Purposefest events for purpose-driven businesses.