The agency has been built on a set of ethical principles which underpin its vision of doing good while doing well, through pro-bono work, community projects and its charitable volunteering programme. This business approach has earned the agency widespread recognition as one of the 130 most influential businesses in Cambridge, a ‘Force for Good’ in the PR industry, and as a finalist for Corporate Purpose in The Drum Agency Business Awards.
Conscious Communications, founded in 2012, is fulfilling its mission in a number of ways. The company established the student games festival FXP; a STEM initiative designed to drive social mobility by building career aspirations and opportunities for young people across Cambridgeshire. It also has an internal volunteering programme which offers paid work days for all employees to support charities of their choice. Past choices include Tommy’s, which funds research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth; CamCRAG, a Cambridge-based refugee charity; and Stars, which supports young people in Cambridgeshire facing grief and dealing with loss. On top of this, the agency chooses an annual ‘Charity of the Year’ which benefits from the team’s PR and marketing support pro-bono for the entire year. The 2018/2019 charity is Cogwheel Trust – a mental health charity that supports people in need in the local area.
Alison Taylor, Managing Director at Conscious Communications, said: “We are so pleased to be achieving our ambition of using our skills to benefit others by combining our creativity and strategic expertise with ethics that make us proud and reflect our sense of social responsibility. The fact that we have built a successful business, that gives a third of its time and resource to good causes, is testament to our belief that professions like ours can indeed do well by doing good. We all find it extremely rewarding to see the success of our philosophy and business approach authenticated in the support we are able to deliver.”
The agency has been recognised for its ethos on a number of occasions; in 2017 Conscious Communications was awarded the PR Week ‘Force For Good’ Award and in 2018 it received Investors In People Gold accreditation – never previously won by an agency of such size. Conscious Communications is also shortlisted for the Community Business of the Year category at the 2018 SME National Business Awards, for its dedication to affecting positive change.
Taylor went on to say: “We appreciate the recognition we receive for being a force for good and we hope, in some small way, to set an example for others to also adopt conscientious business approaches that benefit people and local communities.”