Addition of B Corp responds to growing C-Suite demand for integrated business and sustainability strategy offer.
Anthesis Group, the global sustainability and solutions provider, today announced the acquisition of impact-led innovation consultancy GoodBrand. An important addition to Anthesis’ growth plans, GoodBrand is an established advisor to leading brands, including Unilever, Danone and Nestlé, helping them unlock opportunities for growth through impact strategies.
“With the calibre of expertise, common values and services that unite perfectly with ours, I’m pleased to welcome GoodBrand to Anthesis.”
GoodBrand, a B Corp, was founded in 1998 on the belief that a leading sustainability strategy could be a source of strategic advantage. Since then, it has supported its clients by integrating sustainability insights and a bias for impact into innovation and strategy. Notable examples include Nespresso’s AAA Sustainability Quality™ Programme and Positive Cup strategy, Danone Nutricia’s Early Years Nutrition Partnership, and Unilever’s Sunlight Water Centres, part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.
This strategic acquisition further supports Anthesis Group’s strong growth ambitions for the next phase of its development, which is expanding the breadth of sustainability and technology offerings available to its clients. Having grown to 250 experts across 11 countries in five years and continuing to achieve annual sales growth in excess of 25 per cent, 2019 ambitions will see the company integrate more industry talent and consultancies, expanding services and geographic reach.
Commenting on the acquisition, Stuart McLachlan, Anthesis Group’s CEO said, “For more than two decades GoodBrand has been at the forefront of impact-focused commercial strategies that have been instrumental in helping to evolve thinking on the relationship between business growth and sustainability. While awareness of the social and environmental issues that the world faces are becoming more mainstream, many organisations still find it difficult to realise their greater ambition of making an impact at scale. With the calibre of expertise, common values and services that unite perfectly with ours, I’m pleased to welcome GoodBrand to Anthesis. It will strengthen our offering and further enable us to answer these complex, but vital questions for our clients. We expect to see continued significant M&A activity as the professional services sector galvanises and mobilises in response to growing organisational needs for sustainability integration.”
The Founder and Chairman of GoodBrand, Dean Sanders, added “From inception our mission has been to scale positive impact by working with progressive leaders responsible for some of the world’s biggest brands and businesses. Clients increasingly require an integrated service offer, in multiple geographies and in multiple service disciplines. By joining Anthesis Group, with its global network and deep expertise across a wide range of sustainability areas, we are taking an important step forward in servicing our clients’ needs and achieving our mission to scale impact. We have been impressed by the ambition and focus of Anthesis in delivering sustainable solutions and found common ground in our shared values and ways of working.”
This is the 12th acquisition for Anthesis Group since it was established in 2013. Other acquisitions included Best Foot Forward, UMR GmbH, Caleb Management Services, Second Nature, M4C, LRS Consultancy (who also acquired Urban Mines), TEP ME, Mosaic Sustainability, Enveco SE, Sustain and MADE-BY (IP assets acquisition).
About GoodBrand:
GoodBrand is a sustainability strategy and innovation consultancy. The company works with a wide range of businesses and brands to develop frontier strategies that integrate social and environmental impact into business strategy. In 2018, GoodBrand was recognised in the B Corp ‘Best for the World’ and ‘Global Changemaker’ shortlists.
