Bring out the cake! Kin&Co celebrates 1st birthday with a host of new clients, awards and B Corporation® status

It’s not like we ever really need an excuse for a slice of cake, but today it’s for a special occasion – it’s our first birthday.

And what a year it’s been.

I founded Kin&Co to empower people to create a happier, healthier world – which back in February 2016 felt pretty needed. In February 2017… well, let’s just say we’re more passionate about achieving that than ever.

From helping multi £billion companies like TripAdvisor, Danone and O2 build ethics, sustainability and purpose into their business strategies, to helping homelessness charity Crisis and conservation charity WWF operate more efficiently, to launching the world’s first ‘Living Grid’ energy system with Forum for the Future and the world’s first transport API to improve lives in Southern Africa – we’ve kept ourselves busy.

And we’ve lived our values – even when it meant tough decisions. Our work on the EU referendum is a good example of that. In a bid to prevent an outcome that went against our principles, we co-founded and ran We Are Europe, the pro-EU youth campaign.

In eight short weeks, it became the third biggest campaign of the referendum, reached 79 million people internationally and contributed to youth turnout rising from a predicted 32% to an unprecedented 68%. We were advised against getting involved – too partisan, we’d lose money – but we stuck to our guns, and we’re all pretty proud of that.

I think that it’s this unswerving commitment to our values that has attracted some of the industry’s top talent. I’ve been amazed by the superstars in comms, culture, organisational development and sustainability that have joined Kin&Co. We’re SO proud of our team. And these brilliant people have delivered work which has won us several awards, including the prestigious ‘Marketing Can Change The World Award’ from The Drum. We were shortlisted for two more just last week!

But what are we doing to actually walk the talk ourselves? Well, we recently achieved B Corporation status and we’re piloting a programme that gives our employees every Wednesday afternoon off to rest and recharge. We’re also aiming to inspire others with our new Modern Day Wisdom event series, which launched last month with all 320 seats sold out.

Kin&Co – as you’d guess from our name – is all about bringing great people together to achieve amazing things. And if you’re reading this, in one way or another, you’re in the gang. So thank you.

What a year. Bring it on, 2017!

Rosie