consumers with ethical messaging. The
products were Fairtrade but they didn't
want this to be the main attraction – it
had to be a quality product too.
Fairley says that through a marketing
strategy that focused equally on the
products qualities as the company's
ethical foundations, and branding that
matched luxury mainstream products,
Green & Black's soon established itself
as a market heavyweight.
"Branding has played a huge part
in helping to raise awareness around
organic and Fairtrade. Organic was a
tiny, quirky niche when we started and
in order to get it noticed and to attract
the mainstream it had to throw off its
cliché of the hippy earth shoes and
lentils image which has dogged it for
many, many years," says Fairley.
"Sustainable products have to work
that little bit harder because people
think that they're not going to taste as
good or they're not going to look as
good or they're not going to perform as
well.
"And this is because it is thought
that some kind of compromise must
have been made in order to meet a
sustainability goal, which isn't true".
This association is still present, she
says, but Fairtrade, organic companies
are now as focused on the success of
their business as they are promoting
ethical principles, which is seeing them
slowly gain respect from the industry
as well as consumers.
Multinationals have taken note of this.
In 2005, Cadbury's bought Green &
Black's for around £20m – a move that
Fairley and Sams were heavily criticised
for. Some thought it would be the end of
ethical trading at the company, with its
principles being immersed into a global
portfolio of mainstream products.
However, Fairley says the decision was
not made on a whim and that she was
comfortable selling to Cadbury's because
Interview Jo Fairley, Green & Black's 2/5
Speaking at
Fairley helped throw off the
'hippy and lentils' image long
associated with organic produce
