Walking the Walk: PR, Passion, and Purpose at B Corp GingerMay

By Victoria Usher, Founder & CEO of GingerMay

It feels incredible to be shortlisted by The UK Company Culture Awards for the Purpose Before Profit Award, a philosophy we believe in deeply.

The process of applying was a useful opportunity to reflect on the “why” behind our business activity and choices. So, what is that “why”?

At GingerMay, purpose has never played second fiddle to profit. Since the day I founded the agency 15 years ago, I’ve strived to cultivate a workplace culture aligned with three key maxims:

• Putting the planet first
• Prioritising team welfare
• Sharing success by giving back

Whether we’re working with groundbreaking cleantech innovators or mentoring the next generation of talent, everything we do feeds back into these core values. To keep ourselves accountable, we put GingerMay to the test via the rigorous B Corp application process and achieved certification in 2023.

This was a monumental milestone. But it wasn’t the finish line, it was — as any fellow B Corp will know — a checkpoint. We now strive to maintain even higher standards; a reminder that real change doesn’t come from one-time actions or surface-level branding, it comes from consistency and intentional effort.

Here, I’m going to talk about delivering that consistency, sharing the development of, and our progress towards, two goals that serve as GingerMay’s North Star when measuring our agency’s purpose.

Goal One: Choosing Our Clients with Care

Let’s start with a challenge most agencies face and we knew would test us: aligning commercial growth with a commitment to positive impact.

Sustainability startups and charities often don’t get the press or investment they deserve. Many are pioneering truly transformative work, but limited resources mean their stories struggle to cut through. We wanted to change that.

So, we made a plan. We would expand our cleantech client base and make it a core specialism of the agency. It’s not just the lack of resources that hinders cleantech innovators; it’s the lack of PR agencies that truly understand their space. We saw there was a huge opportunity.

We began by refining how we support the clients we work with. That meant implementing a smart client screening process — supported by a newly-established advisory board — to ensure every new partnership aligns with our social and environmental values. It also meant being intentional about who we collaborate with and brave enough to say no when something didn’t align with our purpose.

Then we looked at how to be louder about what we stand for. Our new Practice Head of Emerging Technologies, alongside our Client Relationship Manager, led targeted, omnichannel marketing efforts online and on the ground. We attended key events including Innovation Zero and London Climate Technology Show, and shared our insights on LinkedIn to drive our cleantech network buzzing.

Behind the scenes, we carved out time for more pro bono work because access to great PR shouldn’t be limited by budget. We offered reduced rates and free services to sustainability organisations and charities doing critical work in fields that are especially meaningful to us, such as The Melanoma Fund and Digilearning.

The results, I am happy to say, are speaking for themselves. In FY2024, we grew our cleantech client base, delivered over two working months of pro bono support, and are making a name for ourselves — and, of course, our clients — on the sustainability circuit.

Goal 2: Involving Our Team in Purposeful Action

A company’s impact is only as strong as the passion that fuels it. I might care about making a difference but, even as CEO, I’m just one person. Top-down remits are not enough: passion has to come from every corner of the company.

Finding the time and motivation to help a good cause can be tough, and there’s so many businesses in need of help that it can be easy to become overwhelmed and end up doing nothing. We wanted uptake to be as high as possible, so we made doing good easier and more personal.

We signed the whole company up to Matchable, a platform that connects people with purposeful volunteering opportunities tailored to their skills and interests. Whether someone wanted to support local communities or drive sustainability initiatives, Matchable guaranteed no volunteering time would go to waste.

Knowledge-sharing and peer-to-peer support can help build a better future. I’ve been in the industry long enough to witness this. We also became involved with Bloom Network UK, a programme for women starting out in marketing and communications. Four of our senior team members signed up to offer their time and experience to help others grow in this industry.

To keep everyone on track, our Office Manager took ownership of the volunteering programme, monitoring our progress and helping everyone stay involved. We also created a cross-functional B Corp working group, our internal champions who organise educational sessions, spark new ideas, and ensure sustainability is never an afterthought.

We set ourselves a target for volunteering and mentoring hours in FY2024. We didn’t just hit it, we more than doubled it, with a whopping proportion of our working hours dedicated to good causes.

None of this was about checking boxes, it was about real pride. In our latest internal survey, the majority of our team strongly agree with the statement, “I am proud to work at GingerMay.”

Purpose Isn’t a Buzzword, It’s Our Benchmark

There’s no sugarcoating it: keeping a values-driven business on course is hard work. It takes trade-offs, smart strategy, and above all, commitment. But here’s what we’ve proven: purpose and performance are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they fuel each other in a virtuous cycle.

Like-minded clients trust us because they see that we care; our team gets stuck in because they believe in what we’re building; our impact grows because we direct our time and energy beyond the day-to-day of running a business.

I’m proud to say that GingerMay is a force for good in the PR, media, and tech world. We nurture green innovators, support environmental and social causes, and invest in our people.

Between our benchmark-busting progress on our goals and recognition from the UK Company Culture Awards, GingerMay has a spring in its step on our march towards a better future. As other companies wonder whether to even talk the talk, we’ll keep walking the walk, proving that you can do business the right way and still win.