Barefruit is first and foremost a full-service marketing agency, but one of our core values is giving back to our local community. And we like to do so whenever and however we can. We all live in the Northern Rivers, known for it’s stunning landscapes and beautiful beaches. We have subtropical hinterland that meets the ocean, untouched beaches and abundant rainforests that surround us. With such an amazing environment on our door step, at Barefruit we are passionate about doing everything we can to care for it.
We donated and planted trees!
Apart from our everyday eco-friendly habits, Barefruit recently donated 20 trees to Replant Byron! This is an initiative brought to life by Zero Emissions Byron. Replant Byron has committed to planting 1.8 million trees to create a community forest in the Byron Shire by 2025! What’s really cool, is that back in 2018, we worked with Zero Emissions Byron to develop the Replant Byron logo. This was back when the initiative was still in the works. Nat, our wonderful graphic designer, designed the logo on a pro bono basis.
More about Replant Byron and our trees
In September, Replant Byron had a push to raise $10K of tree donations in two weeks. Amazingly, and thanks to the supportive community in which we live, they passed their goal, raising $15, 506. When the team at Barefruit heard about the fundraiser, we agreed that it was something Barefruit needed to be involved in. And so, we purchased 10 trees and donated them to Replant Byron. The Farm Byron Bay, has donated land for the community forest that Replant Byron is building, and during the fundraiser, The Farm was matching donations. So, we were able to contribute 20 trees to the community forest. What’s more, donators were invited to plant the trees they had donated on 19 September 2020. Evan and his son, Cian, were very eager to get their hands dirty, and went to plant our 20 trees at The Farm, on behalf of Barefuit.
Where Barefuit’s passion for the environment all began
In 2018, The Barefruit team watched a documentary called ‘A Plastic Ocean’, and it hit pretty hard. We were shocked and saddened by what we learned and deeply inspired to reverse the impact our society has made on our precious earth. As individuals, we all led lives with eco-friendly habits, but as an organisation, we weren’t taking much action. It was time to walk the walk. And so, the office set new rules, banning single-use-plastic and encouraging eco-friendly habits at work. These included carpooling to meetings, composting food scraps at work and taking crockery and cutlery to local cafés when getting lunch out. Staff who broke the rules paid penalties in the form of burpees. It’s great to say that the rules have worked very well.
Even our clients are penalised – it’s all good fun!
After the initial shock of these new rules, which saw quite a few staff members getting their burpees on, it was only recently that we had some more culprits. Luke from NBN Group and Geoff from Westlawn Finance brought disposable coffee cups into the office for meetings last month. Little did they know they would be paying a price! I can say their burpee form has been approved by Evan, our very own exercise-fanatic.
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We’ve worked on other environmentally-focused projects too!
2018 was the year of change for Barefruit. We worked with Waste Warriors on their Reduce Single Use campaign to promote making sustainable choices at home and in work places. As part of their brief, we built a marketing strategy for the campaign and created a logo identity. This identity was rolled out on designs for promotional cut-outs, campaign collateral, a website landing page and print ads. The Ballina Shire Council heard about our project, and jumped on board with us, promoting the importance of the campaign. The result was 33 local business pledging to Reduce Single Use plastic in their workplaces.
One thing all our staff love about working for Barefruit is that we prioritise giving back to our local community. Our newest employee, Charlotte, says “Knowing that Barefruit Marketing is an organisation focused on helping local clients, doing our bit to care for the environment, and supporting charities feeds my conscience. It’s rare to find an agency with this value, especially in the Marketing and Advertising world. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”.