There is a specific form of eye-roll that occurs when somebody mentions their firm’s B Corp certification. the one. It sits someplace between “greenwashing alert” and “right here we go once more with the purpose-led advertising.” Bristol-based inventive company One thing Acquainted is aware of this response intimately. So for his or her 2024-25 Influence Report, they determined to lean immediately into it.
The result’s Rituals for Good, a folklore-inspired report that treats B Corp certification like an outdated wives’ story. To not dismiss it, however to reclaim the facility of perception within the face of cynicism.
Suppose 18th-century chapbooks meet company transparency, full with AI-assisted woodcut illustrations, medieval marginalia and a satan determine clutching a scroll on the duvet.
Poking enjoyable
“We needed to poke enjoyable on the B Corp certification naysayers,” says managing director Bryony Cozens. “Certification is not a fable, and these aren’t simply fanciful outdated wives’ tales. We have been working laborious to make enhancements since we first licensed in 2021, and we needed to have a good time that in an SF approach.”
It is a provocative selection. At a second when greenwashing prosecutions are on the rise and purpose-led claims face unprecedented scrutiny, intentionally framing your impression work as folklore might learn as flippant. However One thing Acquainted’s strategy does one thing cleverer: it acknowledges the scepticism whereas demonstrating the rigour that sits beneath it. The report covers all 5 B Corp pillars (Governance, Staff, Group, Atmosphere and Clients), however wraps the information in a story about metamorphosis and religion.
The visible language attracts closely from early printed ephemera. Inventive director Oli Garnett and the staff created illustrations utilizing Midjourney, intentionally coaching the AI to imitate 18th-century chapbook woodcuts. The typography makes use of blackletter show faces alongside fastidiously thought of physique copy. Each unfold feels textured, lived-in, intentionally non-corporate.
“We needed this Influence Report back to really feel lived in,” Garnett explains. “Each illustration, each texture, each shift in tempo was a approach of capturing the true tales behind the numbers and the best way our staff and companions moved ahead collectively.”
Microsite and newspaper
The digital model lives on a custom-built microsite with trendy media codecs and clear code. However One thing Acquainted additionally created a limited-run newspaper, a bodily artefact that echoes the tactility of conventional print tradition and reinforces the folklore framing. It is the form of object you may really hold, slightly than recycle after a cursory look.
This raises an attention-grabbing problem for inventive professionals engaged on related tasks. Annual studies, impression statements and sustainability credentials are sometimes essentially the most tedious objects in any studio’s venture roster. They’re obligatory, closely regulated and usually approached with all of the inventive enthusiasm of filling out a tax return. But they’re additionally more and more vital; each as proof factors for purchasers and as real markers of organisational values.
One thing Acquainted’s strategy suggests there is a inventive alternative in that stress. Moderately than treating scepticism as an impediment, they’ve made it the entry level. The folklore framing says, “Sure, we all know how this sounds. Sure, we all know you have heard all of it earlier than. Here is why it issues anyway.”
The hot button is that the playfulness sits alongside precise substance. This is not theme-park company social accountability; it is a detailed account of measurable progress, wrapped in an attractive narrative framework.
The B Corp certification course of is, in any case, notoriously rigorous, requiring corporations to satisfy excessive requirements of social and environmental efficiency, accountability and transparency. One thing Acquainted’s recertification rating improved from its 2021 baseline, a improvement the report acknowledges whereas additionally highlighting areas for continued work.
Key takeaway
For inventive professionals going through their very own company reporting challenges, there are classes right here past the precise aesthetic decisions. The report works as a result of it is constructed on a transparent conceptual basis: in folklore, transformation requires religion. Utilized to enterprise apply, that turns into a framework for discussing how perception in higher practices should evolve alongside precise structural change. It is conceptually coherent in a approach that many purpose-led tasks aren’t.
It additionally demonstrates how restrictions can gas creativity. B Corp reporting has particular necessities that may’t be prevented or glossed over. One thing Acquainted treats these constraints because the scaffolding round which to construct one thing memorable, slightly than obstacles to work round.
Maybe most significantly, it exhibits what occurs once you belief your viewers. The folklore framing assumes readers are good sufficient to understand each the playfulness and the intense intent beneath it. It would not discuss down, would not over-explain, would not apologise for taking company transparency severely.
In an business more and more sceptical of purpose-led work, that form of confidence feels quietly radical. Whether or not it converts the cynics stays to be seen. However on the very least, it is created one thing individuals may really need to learn. And on this planet of company impression reporting, that alone seems like magic.
