Writing for The Grocer doesn’t give a lot of opportunity to show off; as I rule, when asked what I do for a living I say I write about baked beans. So you will have to excuse me for taking the opportunity to share that on Tuesday night I attended a reception at 10 Downing Street.
A few observations from my adventure: they take your phone off you as you go in, so no cheeky selfies in the Cabinet office; the decorators have an unhealthy interest in portraits of white middle-aged men; and there is a pink neon sign above the entrance to a drawing room that reads ‘More Passion’ (It appears as out of place at Number 10 as I did, and a quick Google reveals it was a Tracey Emin installation contributed at David Cameron’s request).
Inside that drawing room on Tuesday evening was an event to mark the achievements and 10th anniversary of the One brand, which is a bit of a favourite of mine (and that was before they invited me to Number 10).
One was founded by entrepreneur Duncan Goose, who was inspired to act when he saw a photograph of a young girl sitting next to a padlocked water tap in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. Primarily known for its bottled One Water, the brand donates all its profits to fund projects in the harshest parts of the world and in 10 years has raised £10m and helped an estimated two million people.
The brand is rooted in the concept of tying the branded product directly to the benefit its purchase brings: One Water funds water projects, for example, while One Eggs funds community farming, and One Kitchen Foil funds smokeless stoves. It is a wonderfully simple idea that can stretch into virtually any category. And yet, with the exception of the examples above, other One products have failed to take off.
This has primarily been down to bad luck, says Goose, as previous One launches – including bread, porridge and toilet tissue – came to market as the recession hit hardest.
“Our suppliers had to shore up their own distribution and businesses, which is perfectly understandable,” he says. “There is no bad feeling, it was all down to the timing.”
But he hasn’t given up on the idea of extending the One name, and plans to launch a branded financial services product this year. More One-brand grocery products are likely to be a matter of when, rather than if. “With regards to fmcg we have two or three things in the pipeline – the model still holds as true,” Goose added.
Many businesses are already doing a great job of supporting One – including The Co-op Group, Starbucks, Tesco and distributor C&C Group – and I’d like to think that even more will do so should the brand extend its reach in future. One has had a fantastic first 10 years, and the grocery industry can help to ensure the next 10 are even better.
Finally, I’ll leave you with something Goose said that has stuck with me for 48 hours, and I suspect will do for some time to come: “The global bottled water industry is a 300 billion-litre a year industry. If just one penny were collectively donated per litre of water sold, it would hypothetically raise money enough in one year to fund the eradication of the global water issue.”
I left Downing Street a fairly sober man, despite having a couple of glasses of the Camerons’ bubbly in me.
Image: Number 10/Flickr
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