When our friends at B Lab shared this year’s theme for B Corp Month–the annual month-long campaign to celebrate and raise awareness of the B Corp Movement–it couldn’t have resonated with us more.
“We go beyond” is the shared campaign that invites people to understand why and how B Corps have chosen to pursue an impactful path. While we excel at business as usual, we’re also super proud of all that we do to go beyond.
From the inside out, here’s a look at how DEPT® is “going beyond” to fulfill our mission as a certified B Corp to help build a more equitable and sustainable future for people and the planet.
We go beyond for our clients
At DEPT®, we always seek to go above and beyond for our clients. Nowadays, consumers demand that businesses take action on the most pressing issues of our time, and we truly believe that agencies can influence culture and consumer behaviour through our work with brands. Many of our clients are under pressure to become more sustainable, and we know that we can’t just rely on flashy campaigns and empty words.
Especially for us digital experts, we’re constantly thinking about how we can work with more purpose-driven organisations, help our clients become more sustainable, and come up with the coolest and most innovative ways of working. Every marketing campaign is a chance to showcase a brand’s values, celebrate diversity and inclusion, and connect with diverse audiences.
Here are some examples of the amazing work we’ve been up to recently, which might inspire you to take things to the next level too:
- We’ve been partnering with our clients to raise awareness of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion issues within their marketing campaigns. We make sure that every campaign is not only relevant and sensitive to modern audiences but also pushes the conversation forward. For example, our work with Philips helped to celebrate body hair positivity and encouraged men to embrace their natural selves.
- With Cha-Ching Money Adventures, we teamed up with the Prudence Foundation to create a fun and educational game for students in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We combined our digital expertise with the best practices for children’s learning to improve their financial literacy skills in a variety of ways.
- We’re super proud to be a partner of Salesforce’s Net Zero Cloud platform, which helps organisations track, analyse, and report on their environmental, social, and governance initiatives. We’re using our skills to help companies measure their impact on the environment and build sophisticated tools to manage their data.
We go beyond because of our people
At DEPT®, we’re all about our people. It’s what sparked our journey towards becoming a B Corp, and it’s what drives our ongoing #goodcompany mission. We had a small group of Depsters who wanted to make a positive impact on society and the environment, and becoming B Corp certified was the perfect way to start our #goodcompany journey.
Fast forward a year and a half, and our people are still leading the way. We have employees across the company advocating for change and raising awareness for causes they care about. We’ve even started a few Employee Resource Groups, like DEPT®/Women and DEPT®/PRIDE, to help support our team.
But we’re always looking for ways to go beyond. For example, we’ve created more than 400 jobs in remote hubs around the world to support the rise of hybrid working and attract talent from diverse backgrounds. One of our newest hubs is in Barbados, and we’re investing in the local community to help bring economic opportunities to an area hit hard by the effects of the pandemic and climate change.
“If we can get global investments here that allow talented people the virtual access they need to stay here and build a career, it’s a no-brainer,” said Mia Mottley, Barbados’ Prime Minister.
“Our duty in terms of people is to give them the tools, give them the skills and access to opportunities. We’ve been watching DEPT® for a long time. We’re impressed by their progressive attitude and desire to make a difference. They’re real pioneers in the digital world so when they said they wanted a regional hub here, I said ‘come.’”
We go beyond for our community
Each year, we set aside a day to give back to our communities via DEPT® Cares Day. From cleaning up parks to planting trees to creating STEM kits, local teams across the globe take a moment to volunteer. See just some of the places we volunteered in 2022 here.
Over in Europe, we’ve been a proud partner of Blue Road Academy, an organisation dedicated to advancing the careers of newcomers to Europe.
Over the past few years, this program has helped over 180 individuals receive Salesforce training in a community-oriented atmosphere. From the initial cohorts, 60% of graduates have landed jobs at technology companies with positions in development, marketing, sales, and administration. We are a recruitment partner and have hired two individuals from Blue Road Academy since its opening. We also support with an annual monetary donation and use of our offices in Berlin for the training.
Learn more about some of the impact this program has had by hearing from some of its graduates.
Finally, 1% of our profits are allocated to pro bono work, enabling us to work with organisations that may not have the budget for our services but are doing important work in the community.
What’s next
We’re all in this together, facing so many challenges from climate change to rising inequality. But we believe that every business can make a positive impact.
That’s why we’re proud to be a part of the B Corp community, using our business to do good for people and the planet. We’re excited to share our upcoming Impact Report with you in the next few months, to show you all the progress we’ve made so far, and inspire other businesses to join us on this journey toward a better future.
Let’s keep pushing the boundaries and go beyond what we ever thought was possible!
Questions?
Global Head of Impact