New pro bono initiative SOcial kicked off in Rotterdam

New pro bono initiative SOcial kicked off in Rotterdam
SparkOptimus Team
Written by
Ralph Pijls
The SparkOptimus Blog Team
October 9, 2017

Last month, three SparkOptimus employees went to BlueCity010 in Rotterdam for an inspiring visit at LoopedGoods, a Dutch startup which offers a web shop with products from companies active in the circular economy. The visit was part of SparkOptimus’ new initiative: SparkOptimus Social.

The brand new initiative exists to share SparkOptimus’ knowledge and expertise with social enterprises on a pro bono basis. SparkOptimus SOcial is currently run by twelve enthusiastic ‘Sparkies’ that are motivated to share knowledge with companies that are committed to have a positive social impact. The team focuses on companies that share resemblances with SparkOptimus: entrepreneurial, growing, and realising impact through digital technology.

One of the companies SOcial has helped thus far is LoopedGoods: a Rotterdam-based startup that has recently launched an online marketplace for companies with products from the circular economy. Beautifully situated in BlueCity010, a breeding ground for innovative and sustainable projects, LoopedGoods currently enables 25+ fellow social enterprises to sell their products online. An example enterprise is Kromkommer, an organisation that is making soup out of vegetables that are not sold in supermarkets due to their ‘looks’ or overproduction.

LoopedGood’s online platform offers a wide range of products based on the circular economy

To help LoopedGoods bring their (online) marketing activities to the next level, three SparkOptimus SOcial members gave a Digital Marketing training, followed by an interactive workshop. The Digital Marketing training explained the differences between digital and traditional marketing and highlighted the most relevant digital marketing channels. In the following workshop they encouraged the participants to directly start working with the obtained knowledge: they jointly defined target groups, determined relevant (digital) marketing channels and had an initial brainstorm on possible campaigns. This led to concrete actions, that served as input for LoopedGoods’ promotion plan.

“SparkOptimus helped us to kickstart the development of our promotion plan. The insights we gained from the training will help us to better reach our potential customers” – Lisanne Addink-Dölle (Co-founder of LoopedGoods)

As SparkOptimus, we are very excited to be working with these interesting and innovative organisations that are making an important contribution to our society. If you are part of a social enterprise and interested in working with our SOcial initiative to gain more knowledge on digital strategy, contact us at SOcial@sparkoptimus.com!

P.S. If you are looking for an original and sustainable gift, check out LoopedGoods.com.

SparkOptimus’ Sander Spinder in discussion with LoopedGoods employees during the workshop