In todays episode of Asking &why, rethinking benchmarks in design, branding and innovation, we take a look behind the curtains of a project we worked on together with B Lab Germany to educate people about the B Corp Label and power of their choices. You can check out the 3D experience here.

Can you encourage consumers to make conscious choices without sparking guilt or making them feel lectured? We certainly tried, and hopefully accomplished it. Engaging consumers in discussions about their choices is always uncomfortable. Even within an open-minded audience, it can still come across as lecture-y. Our idea, together with B Lab Europe, was to create a web experience where consumers can discover the impact their choices have and create awareness on their own consumer decisions - all while maintaining a relaxed, vibrant and positive vibe. Sounds like a walk in the park, right?

Most people that have come across B Lab only heard from it in a business context and about  their company moving to become a B Corp and a force for good. This is especially true as most of the B Lab Germany communication is focused on businesses. But wait, B Corp, doesn’t ring any bells.

B Lab is the nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.

A B Corp is a company that has been certified for the high standards B Lab requires to become a force for good and commits to improve continuously.

Becoming a B Corp is one of the tougher challenges for companies as there is a lot to measure and prove, on the other hand it helps consumers in their ongoing search for a label that is transparent, they can trust and that actually holds high standards. In Germany specifically, everyone knows BIO and without going into whether or not this is a good label, consumers almost blindly trust it. One thing that is certain though: it only certifies the specific product you are buying without looking at the company on a larger scale, whether it treats its employees well, engages in DEI, monitors the overall waste and impact they have on the environment, just to name a few.

This all sounds great, right? Still you’re wondering because honestly, nobody knows about it and certainly not really anyone is caring about it right?

We are here to change that. How? By activating the strongest power: the consumers - you and me. - without pretending that B Corp is the grand solution to all our problems. But as a path to continuously becoming a better company. “Being a B Corp means continuously improving the impact you have as a company. To educate consumers and create awareness around “B Corp'' we created the first German B Corp website incl. an exciting 3D experience” says Maximilian Klinger, B Corp representative at &why.

We created “Choose Better - Choose B Corp” -  a messaging, website and framework that will be the first touchpoint for many consumers. We want to create trust.

Trust that you are supporting companies that are working on themselves to become better every year. Trust that B Corps are thriving for high standards. Trust that choosing a B Corp means selecting actual impact over greenwashing. To build that and make people understand we need awareness and a memorable experience - through education and excitement.

According to multiple studies, we make close to 35.000 small decisions every day. We certainly can make some of them better. Given that most of us live in urban areas, a virtual city walk-through seemed fitting to discuss everyday choices such as coffee, clothing, shopping, banking, and work, ensuring a seamless and immersive journey.

During the tour, users are presented with an implicit choice: If they choose to learn about an item, they will “unlock” it. The number of items unlocked by the end of the tour determines the message on the end screen, which ranges from encouraging to a little shaming. I know I mentioned the lecture tone before, but c’mon, the line between prompting and lecturing is thin and paved with good intentions ;)

The interactions encourage the users to learn about the individual items, while the end screen message motivates them to explore the topics they might not have found as interesting at first glance.

A feat worth mentioning is how we pulled this off with a tight budget and short timeline. Designers and developers worked tightly together to make the most out of the time we had, and we did! All in all, this experience allowed us to test our ability to create an engaging, aesthetically pleasing and impactful immersive experience on a small scale. I think we succeeded, do you? Try it out now and find out if your choices are up to standard ;)

Together with B Lab and the community we’re developing a communications strategy and will activate a lot more people. The best of it: You can actually be a part of this. If you want to know more about that, write us at bcorp@why.de.