Overview

From its inception, Uncommon Grounds has hand-crafted smooth, rich and robust coffee.  Our founders utilized fair-trade practices to obtain all beans, met with each farming partner and came to understand the communities where the farms are located. The idea of social responsibility was interwoven into the inner fabric of our company.

When an internal investigation revealed that we had failed to maintain the fair-trade practices we have based our company upon, we actively restructured our company and started working towards a B Corp Certification, which demands excellence in internal and external dealings. We hope to attain this goal within five years.

 Our first step was to have our employees follow in our founders’ footsteps and meet our partnering farmers and blog about the experience on our website. This created a library of blogged profiles featuring each individual partnering fair-trade farm. Then we reinvented our packaging featuring a QR code which linked to those blogs. Thus, by scanning the QR code, customers can now see where their coffee came from and how fair-trade has helped the community.  This has increased the transparency of our product’s origin, educated our employees and customers about the importance of fair trade, and reassured all concerned that our coffee not only tastes good, it does good.

Website: www.ucgcoffee.com

LINKEDIN: PLATFORM DEFENSE & STRATEGIES USED

PLATFORM

The business platform chosen to represent the company is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a strong platform which can be used to create awareness and improve credibility with consumers and other businesses. (Wit, 2021) The recent revelation that Uncommon Grounds has not been abiding by fair-trade practices demands improved credibility and the only way to address the public relations issue id to create awareness of the changes they have made.  LinkedIn also is a strong platform on which to position the company as a leader in thought. (Wit, 2021) Having a platform where Uncommon Grounds can showcase the change being made is key, not only to eradicating the recent bad press, but to entering into the quest for a B Corp Certification with an accompanying sense of vibrancy.

The LinkedIn profile has a tone which is authentic and tells the story of the company’s origin and the recent changes they have made to abide by the ethos of their company.  It is anchored with real events and accomplishments which gives it further credibility. (Handley, 2012) It also utilizes the previously researched keywords to optimize organic SEO and ensure reach. In order to ensure copy and call-to-action will not be cut off, the LinkedIn post length has been kept to 210 characters or less. 

STRATEGIC POSTS

The posts highlight the different accomplishments of Uncommon Grounds in their pursuit for a Certified B Corp status. 

The first post announces the intention of the company to pursue a B Corp Status with the accompanying statement from the CEO.  This statement is a SMART goal as it lists the exact objective, to become B Corp Certified, which is a highly structured process in and of itself and also gives a time frame in which this goal will be achieved. This gives the goal weight, credence and structure.  It also includes a video explaining the definition of B Corp.  Most importantly, the post also links to the website article which gives context to the quote and tells the full story of how and why Uncommon Grounds has committed to this goal. Finally, it includes three hashtags which feature previously research long and short tail keywords.

The second post features one of the fair-trade farms which Uncommon Grounds.  It explains that the QR Code on the new packaging lists to the exact farm where the beans came from. The static image which links to the video features the bag of coffee with an arrow pointing to the QR code with the Blandon Farm video nestled in the back, available with a click.  This image showcases how the process works and strongly supports the premise that the company is working on the transparency of their product’s fair-trade origin.  This is important because according to marketing industry influencer Krista Neher, the human brain can process images up to 60,000 times faster than words. (Arnold, 2021) With the trend in shortened attention span, the image’s ability to communicate without words is key. The video is included because it tells the story of how fair trade impacts the farmers and also because 82% of viewers would rather watch live video than read social media posts. (Stetsky, 2020) The included link leads to the blog about the Blandon farm.  The blog gives further proof of fair-trade origin and showcases the social responsibility initiatives of Uncommon Grounds in action.

The third post features the new employee education initiative. Part of applying for a Certified B Corporation is to ensure that the work culture is positive. When the scandal broke, there was much fear circulating that there would be mass firings. By choosing to re-educate employees in an interactive, engaging way, the administration has taken on a supportive rather than punitive role. This in turn, will serve to build a positive culture within the company which will, in turn, be a foundational step in achieving the employee section of the B Corp Certification. The image has the CEO’s quote within it and features an employee shaking hands with a farmer. This shows the program in action but also reassures consumers that there is tangible contact between employees and their partnering fair-trade farmers. The link leads to the press release which delineates the changes being made.