We Are What We Do

"We Are What We Do" is a not-for-profit behaviour change company that creates ways for millions of people to do more small, good things.

The company's mission is to "make stuff that people want to buy or use and which have positive behaviours built in, aiming to reach massive audiences and help address major social and environmental issues."

They work for 100s of companies and charities to help them engage more people and do more good. The strategy of the company is quite simple but very efficient and smart. They gave up usual way of telling people what to do. Their campaign employ brilliant incentives to make people act in different ways. 

There are really interesting and successful projects in the portfolio of the company, the most of them encourage sustainable way of living from different perspective.

Back in 2007 the general public perceived the reusable shopping bags as "the presence of old ladies and eco warriors" and regarded such simple green behaviour as reusing shopping bags as a part of an "alternative lifestyle". The Company approached a UK's leading accessories designer, Anya Hindmach, on the creation of a simple and beautiful bag. All the bags  were sold out during 2 hours in Sainsbury's in the UK and Whole Foods in the US for a 15 Pounds price. Getting the bag seen on the arms of Kylie Minogue, Mischa Barton, Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Lily Allen, Erin O’Connor and Lily Cole was a crucial part of the success. Later the campaign were extended into a series of "Plastic Aint My Bag" materials for schools. The Company says that following the release of the campaign, the number of "single-use" plastic bags used in the UK has dropped by 43 per cent in the past 5 years.

The Company often organizes campaigns that facilitates ecologically friendly behaviour in an entertaining manner. For example, they found a witty decision to make people recycle their rubbish in a fun, non-preachy manner. Statistics say that attending open-air festivals people produce hundreds of tonnes of waste. "We Are What We Do" created a 12 meter long, pink dragon who "eats" rubbish. In this way the bins were brought to the people rather than expecting people to go to the bins, and to make the process of recycling part of the festival experience. 

To my mind, "We Are What We Do" represents a really successful example of business strategy that encourages sustainable thinking on a personal and corporate level. Go the We Are What We Do page and discover more about their fascinating business model and entertaining products.