In many ways his iconoclastic vision
of making health and beauty products
with 100 percent food-based and organic certified ingredients typifies the
organic pioneer. Organic purity—no
exceptions. He trusts consumers to realize on some level that “anything that
goes on the body,
goes in the body.”
His goal is to ensure
that every product
he creates has a nutritional benefit because his belief is
that every product
he makes winds up
in the body, whether
it is being absorbed
through the skin or
the stomach.
Given Rechelbacher’s irrepressible
creativity, the wealth of products at Intelligent Nutrients is not surprising.
After more than 50 years in the beauty
business he isn’t bound by product categories or market segments. To bring
his vision to life, Rechelbacher has created stores-within-stores at upscale retailers like Barneys and in healthcare
facilities like the Henry Ford Hospital
in Detroit.
For many organic companies, like
Maggie’s Organics, the nation’s oldest
organic cotton clothing company, the
brand vision encompasses both environmental sustainability and social justice. Bena Burda, Maggie’s president,
explains, “In the beginning, we faced
the same two problems every apparel
company faces, late deliveries and
poor quality.” In an effort to solve the
problem Burda discovered the social
justice part of Maggie’s mission. Eventually the company helped start three
worker-owned cooperatives in the
United States and Latin America that
not only empowered the workers and
turned them into business owners
themselves, but also gave Burda’s company more control over production
and product quality.
Just over one year old, Intelligent Nutrients already has more than 200 products on the market.
Burda likens this to making lemons
into lemonade. “It isn’t always easy
being limited to what the cooperatives
can make, but we only want to do what
the co-ops can do,” she says. “That’s
what keeps us coming to work every
day. It keeps us focused on the big
picture.”
Maggie’s story is
not entirely unique.
Many organic com-
panies discover a
critical piece of their
business strategy by
passing a problem
through the lens of
ethical beliefs. This
is the triple bottom
line of people-
planet-profits that distinguishes so
many organic companies from their
conventional counterparts. This liter-
ally is the vision part for most organic
companies and, of course, is counter-
intuitive to conventional business
thinking. Issues solved by taking ethi-
cal or moral stands almost always con-
strain typical business
Brand Growth vs. Business
Growth
This emotional connection is key
when growing a brand versus just growing a business. A traditional business
grows by increasing sales and profit. A
brand grows by focusing on building
relationships. By your company creating a product and your consumer regularly purchasing that product, there is
a shared commitment to your brand.
Thus, growing your brand, which
builds long-term relationships, will almost always grow your business.
Kevin Williams, principal brand
strategist at Pure Branding emphasizes, “It’s not just about what you
make and sell; it’s about what you manifest as a brand.” Ultimately strong
brands earn customer loyalty because
people know and identify with what
they stand for. Customers believe in
the brand (and the people behind the
brand) and trust their products. It’s
only in honoring this trust and consumers’ expectations that you can have
true brand growth, and the business
growth that goes along it.
Bena Burda, founder of Maggie’s, with one of her worker-owned cooperatives
decision-making. Nonetheless, like
every organic entrepreneur, Burda intuitively understands that her success
is based upon the sum of her own passion and her customers’ emotional
connection to the brand.
Organic Brand Growth Challenges
in Today’s Market. As an increasing
number of social and eco labels flood
the market, creating an emotional connection is going to become even more
important to organic companies, says
