Icon Agency becomes B Corp Certified

Icon Agency (ICON) has become a Certified B Corporation after a company-wide assessment of its governance, workplace practices, client work, supplier relationships, and environmental impact.

ICON Group Managing Director Jo Painter said the process required the agency to examine the business behind its client work in considerably more detail.

“B Corp made us look closely at how the business operates, not just the work we put into the market,” Painter said.

“Some things were already part of who we are. Others needed more structure, better measurement or clearer accountability. That was the value of the process. It made us put evidence behind what we say we stand for.”

“It was a significant undertaking across the business, and we’re grateful to Kirsty Dare from SuperVision for her guidance throughout the certification process”.

B Corp Certification assesses companies against B Lab standards for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. It applies to ICON as a whole, not to individual services, projects or clients.

As part of the process, the independent creative communications agency reviewed pay against living-wage measures and completed a gender pay equity analysis. It also strengthened policies on parental leave, flexible work, wellbeing, learning and development, and inclusive hiring.

On governance, ICON set up an Impact Committee, completed a materiality assessment and increased board oversight of impact goals and stakeholder feedback. It also amended its constitution so that company decisions formally consider the interests of employees, communities, customers, suppliers and the environment.

ICON also strengthened its code of ethics, whistleblower protections and financial controls. It has expanded how it tracks energy use and supplier spend, and tightened processes for supplier screening, recycling, e-waste and business travel.

The changes extend to client work. ICON has strengthened its approach to ethical marketing, data privacy, accessibility and quality assurance. It has also added more structure around stakeholder participation, client feedback and measuring project outcomes, particularly where affected communities or audiences need to be involved directly.

Painter said: “We’ve talked for a long time about making work that matters, but going through B Corp meant applying the same scrutiny to the decisions behind that work."

“That means asking who could be affected by a project, who has been heard, whether the work is genuinely accessible, how we choose partners and suppliers, and how we know whether what we have created has actually worked.”

“Certification doesn’t mean we have all of those answers. It gives us a clearer framework for asking the questions, measuring what we are doing, and being accountable for where we still need to improve.”

ICON said it will keep measuring its impact and reviewing its practices as B Corp standards evolve.

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