MediaTech

A video ad platform which rewards viewers with a charity donation on their behalf is reporting significant gains during COVID-19.

London headquartered Good-Loop, which has offices in Edinburgh and New York, saw a 100% uplift in like-for-like revenue in the second and third quarters 2020, compared to the same time last year.

The firm’s philanthropic approach has attracted customers including H&M, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and Unilever.

Founder and CEO Amy Williams told BusinessCloud ‘Phil-tech’ is “using technology and innovation to make philanthropy more accessible, more scalable and more effective – which is more important than ever, considering the tough economic situation we face globally.”

During the pandemic, Williams’ firm launched a dedicated ‘Beat Covid-19’ campaign to support frontline workers and research.

The founder said that firms looking to advertise during a pandemic have to look for more purpose.

“[It’s] inappropriate to simply flog your wares,” she said “so brands have been thinking much more deeply about how they can be a positive force in consumers’ lives.”

During the crisis Nestle has used the Good-Loop platform to support the NHS, and Boots worked with the firm to tackle hygiene poverty in the UK.

In another example, the firm worked with a global consumer electronics company which was looking for a way to advertise their noise-cancelling headphones during the first months of the pandemic.

“During lockdown, consumers were really looking for brands that could offer support and help, to reassure us and to protect the most vulnerable – so Good-Loop’s ethical ad formats offered a nice way to talk to consumers whilst having real on-the-ground positive impact,” she said.

“For this brand, we delivered a global campaign supporting Save The Children to help keep children alive, protected and learning during the COIVD crisis.”

The campaign helped to fund family hand-washing kits and home-schooling bags while delivering a 44% uplift in purchase intent and a 39% uplift in the perception of the brand, Williams reports.

The big brand is one of many which Good-Loop is now targetting. Williams points to data which suggests there are 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions, and the fashion industry currently uses 2% of all freshwater extraction annually.

According to AdAge Datacenter, the world’s top 100 advertisers collectively spend $279bn a year on advertising.

Good-Loop wants to target 2% of spend from these advertisers, an opportunity worth $2.7bn a year.

“These huge corporations will make or break the future of our planet and our society, so it’s really exciting to see consumers increasingly holding them to account,” she said.

“Purpose and positive impact have been on the corporate agenda for years, but over the past four months, COVID-19 has proven to be a substantial catalyst.”

After closing a seed investment round in December 2019 backers including BrandTech fund You & Mr Jones, SIS Ventures and Scottish Enterprise, Williams said Good-Loop is on track to hit key commercial and technical milestones in 2020-2021, including a soft-launch into the US ahead of a Series A fundraise.

COVID-19