Many months ago, this random man who clearly had commitment issues said to me at one of our fancy dinners-
You can get a business degree in one sentence: early to bed, early to rise, work damn hard and advertise.
Bro has a point.
Speaking as someone who has a business degree.
The mission of Zimt is clear, but am I working effectively to get us to our end goal?
To be honest, no- and it has been a very many frustrating and emotionally (sometimes physically) painful years of treading water- trying to keep the business afloat in this frankly horrifying realm of late stage capitalism. At the end of the day, if we can't pay our rent or staff or buy ingredients, keep up with equipment maintenance and maintain a tidy factory, we are kind of screwed.
And to be honest, 99% of my time is spent there- making product, cleaning machines, training staff, chasing payments. And it is funny, because although Zimt is a very small company, the day to day takes up every day.
And, there is next to absolutely nothing left over for advertising.
So after watching the film The Smell of Money, I commented that they lost the plot- it was entirely focused on the plight of the humans. Environmental justice is beyond crucial, but I thought- what about the pigs? Other animals who are non human are rarely given a voice- and I felt immediate guilt for being caught up in sweeping floors instead of changing hearts.
But it dawned on me- we have a crazy opportunity to advertise every month, when thousands of our chocolate bars leave our chocolate factory. They're little advertising Trojan Horses- or at least, they could be....
Zimt packaging has, for years, spouted all the good stuff- we don't use slave labour to harvest our cacao, we're all organic for the environment, we only use coconut sugar for the environment, and who can forget about that compostable packaging?!
The vegan one is tricky, because I've noticed how, no matter how gently it is addressed in conversation with those who are omnivorous, there is almost immediate defensiveness.
That's the last thing I want from veganism, and the last thing we need from it- it is certainly not what the animals need.
So, we are embarking on a advertising journey Don Draper himself would surely endorse. Get ready for the Empathetic Inserts stage of Zimt.
Random bars will have a little slip of carefully designed paper with meticulously researched content pertaining to all things vegan- and how you can be a force for good.
We'll also delve into some environmental and human rights elements of veganism- because those who need us most- the animals- are counting on us reaching everyone. A shoutout to our very talented intern, Mia, for working on these. The nutrition cards will also be OKed by Dr. Matthew Nagra- naturopathic doctor and vegan nutrition wunderman.
So please stay tuned- and keep an eye out! Hopefully these reach exactly who we need them.
Emma of Zimt