Discover how the profit for purpose business came about and what's driving Thankyou to empower consumers to collectively make positive change in fighting global poverty.  Read the following Q and A and for more insights register for our live talk with Daniel Flynn – Make your mark: how to be remarkable.

What prompted you to go into the food tourism business? Tell us about how the Thankyou brand was born?

In 2008, when I was 19-years-old, I recall sitting in front of my computer with tears streaming down my face as I watched footage of kids in Africa having to walk kilometres each day to collect water for their families. The children were depriving themselves of a chance to get an education and putting their own safety at risk to do the trek. In some cases they were putting their families at risk because the water they collected wasn't even safe to drink. I stopped to consider, 'what if that was my story'? That's when the tears started to flow – I couldn't even comprehend it.

Our co-founder Justine had travelled to developing countries as a teenager to volunteer in communities, so she had seen the effects of poverty first-hand. We saw one world that had two extremes – extreme poverty and consumerism. We didn't think it was right that such inequality existed and we wanted to do something about it.

Today $63 trillion is spent globally on consumer products and services, and just before the pandemic, 736 million people were living in extreme poverty. We envisioned a brand that could become a bridge between these two extremes by empowering consumers to help end extreme poverty through their everyday purchases. We’re a social enterprise that brings consumers a product choice that exists all for the end of extreme poverty. 

Did you do any market research when you were crafting your product range?

In the early days of creating products, we were instinct versus data lead. As we’ve grown over the years, we’ve introduced more research and data to help create and refine products. Still, our early years of success in innovation showed us the importance of highly valuing instinct within the team as well as the data inputs. 

What did the initial marketing strategy template look like for Thankyou?

In our heads, it was simple – tell everybody! We had almost no marketing budget, so we relied heavily on PR, in-store point-of- sale near our products, word of mouth and speaking engagements. As Facebook started to gain more traction, we jumped on it and it turned out social media would then play a mission-critical role in leading to our success. 

Who is your ideal target audience and how have you crafted your products around your customer segment? 

We use a custom quantitative segmentation model to help us understand consumer attitudes and behaviour in the personal care category. This helps us to focus on the most relevant parts of the market and more effectively target them with products, messages and campaigns. 

The model is based on the responses of Australian personal care consumers, selected to mirror the demographic profile of the category. There are six segments in our model that sit along a spectrum of involvement within the category, and we focus on the three segments most relevant to Thankyou based on behaviour, attitudes and opportunity. 

Ethical engagers represent 24% of the population and buy the most types of products and consider more products as “essential”. They spend the most out of any segment and buy products at full price.

Trendy spenders represent 17% of the population and engage with product reviews and influencers. They’re important because they’re the ones telling everyone about our products.

Planet savers represent 15% of the population and are growing rapidly. They consider “nasties” a top-three reason to avoid buying a product. At the rate this segment is growing it creates a big opportunity to further elevate our portfolio. This ties in specifically with our new Plastic-Free Collection, elevating our personal care portfolio. 

Your products dominate the shelves in a highly competitive market, what are your secrets to successful shopper marketing?

It’s our aim to positively empower consumers to use their collective power to change the world. Most people feel that global poverty is too big of a problem to do anything about, but we’re here as the middle person and to help you play a part. Simply by purchasing Thankyou products in your weekly shop, or purchasing the Chapter One book, you can help fund the future of Thankyou and support our mission to fight global poverty together. The mission is important to us, but when we think about the shopper it’s the fourth pillar we focus on: 

1. High-quality natural formulas 

2. Sustainability 

3. Aesthetics

4. Impact (the mission we are on)

It’s so critical in a crowded consumer product market to make sure that when you turn up, you deliver an experience that a consumer does not forget. 

How differently do you need to approach your advertising strategy when you're a profit for purpose business?

Consumers are bombarded with messages every day from marketers, and it’s really difficult to cut through. Large budgets do help, but even then, the world is so cluttered with noise. Brands need to think about innovative marketing and advertising ideas that people haven’t seen before so that they stand out – think ‘The Purple Cow’ by Seth Godin. That, combined with making a remarkable product and ensuring our purpose is being lived out, helps fuel word of mouth.

Thankyou is the brand it is today because of the movement of people that have jumped on board. We’re a consumer movement and we campaign. We design campaigns that leverage the people who back Thankyou to help us change business as usual and change the world. Without the power of people, this doesn’t work. 

How do you drive repeat purchase and customer loyalty in such a price-sensitive category?

In Australia, we’ve achieved some remarkable results. Thankyou has led the charge in building the premium segment in the grocery channel and is the number one selling hand wash product in its category. We’ve consistently driven significant growth into the category and have grown rapidly to become the number four personal care brand in Australian supermarkets. Innovation is and has always been the lifeblood of our brand. We can’t – and don’t want to, compete on price. Rather, the intrinsic value of our products has resulted in market-leading repeat purchase and customer loyalty. But we do believe there’s still significant room for growth, simply by driving our awareness and penetration.   

Can you tell us about your business growth strategy for Thankyou and the phase you're currently in?

It's taken some time, but we've got our social enterprise business model working. So much so that in 2020 we raised over $10 million for our project partners from sales here in Australia. Right now, the world is in a really tough spot. We think our planet needs change at scale, quickly. Experts say that over 100 million people are estimated to go back into extreme poverty but the reality is that consumers are still spending money. That's where Thankyou sees the opportunity and importance of taking our model to a global scale.  The fastest way to get there is by finding the right partners with expertise in their markets. We are currently in the process of inviting and sorting through a list of potential partners who can help make and distribute Thankyou globally.  

My Business is also a profit for purpose business. What advice do you have for us in our growth marketing?

Start with 'blue-sky' thinking. It's a phrase we use internally within our team. The definition of 'blue-sky' is creative or visionary ideas unconstrained by practicalities. We believe that the work we do goes beyond us and that because of our purpose, we should strive to push for bold visionary ideas. The reality is that we don't have the luxury of living in a world unconstrained by practicalities, but the magic is being able to take that blue-sky thinking and turn it into reality. That takes a resolve that will require you to draw on your purpose and the support of others. Don't walk alone as you look to grow.