Russ Avery is the founder and CEO of Avery & Brown, a sustainable marketing and creative agency. I talked to him recently as I wanted to learn more about his business, being a B Corp leader, becoming a B Corp and the challenges he has navigated in leading this truly sustainable agency.
We started by talking about what Avery & Brown do.
“We provide brand strategy, marketing, and creative services to our purpose-driven clients. We start with brand strategy because we know that leads to long-term growth and success. Then, we provide a broad range of comprehensive marketing and creative services to support our clients’ growth.
Avery & Brown is a truly sustainable marketing agency. We didn’t pivot from being a traditional marketing agency; our focus has been on supporting purpose-driven, sustainability-focused businesses since Day One. We practice sustainable marketing, not traditional marketing methods, we only work with clients whose missions we believe in, and we take our own sustainability journey very seriously; in fact, it drives everything we do and all our decision making.
We live our values. Hence, we are a Certified B Corporation and a Planet Mark Certified business, among other accolades.
There are now a lot of so-called sustainable marketing agencies out there who just do traditional marketing, but for sustainability-focused companies. That’s not a sustainable marketing agency. They’ve just identified sustainability as the niche that they want to go after for a commercial opportunity. But they’re doing traditional marketing for them. I wonder if their employees are carbon literate and to what extent they walk the walk with regards to their own sustainable business practices. In the case of some who I have met at events, I know the answer is not at all. Unfortunately, calling themselves a ‘sustainable marketing agency’ is greenwash – the very thing they should be helping their clients to avoid at all costs.”
Can you give me an example of how you would approach a campaign in a sustainable way, as opposed to a company that would just be doing the more traditional marketing for sustainable companies?
“We consider people, society and the planet as stakeholders in any output, as well as just the intended target audience.
We’ll ask ourselves questions like ‘What is the impact of this campaign, in environmental and social terms?’
We ask whether the campaign is at risk of using any ‘greenwash’. That’s where a company is elaborating on the truth or making false or unsubstantiated claims about their environmental credentials. Greenwash isn’t necessarily done deliberately. It’s often unintentional. It is often due to lack of carbon and climate literacy.
We are knowledgeable enough to be able to spot that. Whereas another marketing agency wouldn’t know the difference. For example, if a company says something like ‘kind to the planet’, what they probably mean is ‘less harmful to the planet than other choices on the market’. Unless it’s actually true, which is very unlikely, then the former statement is greenwashing, while the latter is (most likely) far more accurate. There are subtle nuances in language and communications that can make a huge difference when it comes to greenwashing and misleading consumers.’
Why did you decide to make that move into marketing in the first place?
“My first job in sustainability was with an ocean conservation charity. I discovered marketing while working for them and took naturally to it. Two years later, I became the marketing and communications manager for a corporate sustainability consultancy start-up. Then, four years later, I became the marketing director for one of their competitors.
I started my own company in 2018 and met Tim a year later. He left his job and went freelance as a graphic designer. I quickly started using Tim’s graphic design services for some of my client projects. We really enjoyed working together. Tim was new to sustainability. He really got into it through me and was happy that if we merged our respective businesses, that its focus would have to be on sustainability.”
How have you led Avery & Brown through challenging times?
“Many of our challenges are the same as any other small business. Except when we talk about money. Obviously, we still need to make profit to be a viable business. But it’s what we do with our profits.
In tough financial times, a traditional business would just halt everything that wasn’t essential expenditure. Whereas, because we believe in our purpose, mission and values, we have stayed true our strategy. For example, we have kept up our monthly financial donations and investing in our offsetting even in really difficult months.
This has been both a tough decision to make, but also an easy one. Some months that has equated to a significant chunk of money that would have helped us out. But we’ve kept that going because of how much we believe in it.
In terms of other challenges we’ve faced and how I’ve led the business through them, my team is undoubtedly the most important part of the business to me.
It’s all about the people.
I do whatever I can as the leader of the business to ensure they are happy and healthy, as does Tim too, of course. I can hand on heart say that we have put our team’s welfare above our own on more than one occasion, and I think that’s how it should be.”
When you’re thinking about people and planet as well as profit, do you think that you approach those challenges in a different way than you would if you were working in a more traditional agency?
“I think we have handled them in a different way. Not just financially but coming down to things like how we treat our staff. Rather than Tim and I focusing on ourselves, as business owners, we have been the ones who have reduced our salary that month, so that we can afford to keep paying everyone else. We have been fiercely protective of everyone through tough times. It’s about more than just financial growth. For us, it’s about our culture, the vibe in the office and how we are as a team.
I think we’ve fared stronger and better than a traditional business as a result.“
And what do you think are essential leadership qualities for any leaders in B Corporations, whatever their size?
“Your leadership team needs to be 100% committed to your vision, your mission and your values of being a better business.
If they don’t care 100%, then part of them isn’t committed to being what a B Corp stands for. Profit is not the be all and end all. It’s about people and planet being on par with profit. If you’re a leader of a B Corp reading this: do you commit to that fully, with every decision you make? It’s a great question to ask yourself.
I know it’s obvious, but you’ve got to have vision and not every entrepreneur does – I know that, because I’ve witnessed it. You need that quality as a CEO to lead the company. I lead on the vision for Avery & Brown and our overall strategy. Handily, vision is one of my strengths. I would definitely recommend everyone takes a strengths finders test, such as Clifton Strengths so they can see what they are good at. Tim heads up our client delivery, output and the operations. I couldn’t do what Tim does as I’m not detail and operations oriented. I’m big picture, vision oriented.”
What advice would you give the newer leaders who are at the start of their leadership journey in B Corporations?
“Don’t underestimate the value of getting professional experience before you decide to set up your own company. I worked for purpose-driven organisations for 8 years before I went solo. That experience has been invaluable.
Ask people for help. Generally, people love being asked for help or advice.
If you build your network of relevant connections and like-minded people, there’s a great chance that those people, further down the line, will become clients of yours. We still get clients now from people I met 10 years ago.
When you do set up your business, find a mentor or coach and, as I mentioned earlier, do some type of strengths finder analysis. You will look at yourself in a different way.
Focus on your superpowers and forget the other stuff. We don’t have to be good at everything.“
You can contact Russ at Avery & Brown here.
Lucy Chaplin is a Leadership Coach who helps B Corps unleash full leadership potential. She works with new leaders and managers to build performance and lead with confidence, giving them all the tools they need to amplify their impact. Her bespoke IMPACT model guides new team leaders through the six stages of effective management. You can book a free discovery call here or find out more details here.
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