Human Label

Hypothesis & Validation

Hypothesis: Consumers are unknowingly contributing to inhumane labor practices and a significant number of them would make different decisions if properly armed with understandable information they could trust.

We turned to and funded a creative team to do validate our questions and research feasible solutions.

“How can these things we
buy be so inexpensive?”

The idea for HumanLabel™ Inc., a Delaware nonprofit corporation, began in a conversation between two retired partners from New York law firms and a nonprofit-focused creative team in Philadelphia/Delaware. A series of questions arose:

How can a T-shirt cost $3, or a computer $80?
What human costs could be hidden within these prices?
Are there any sources for this type of information that are credible, dispassionate, and understandable?
Are others concerned about this as we are?

Our initial searches turned up very little, suggesting that we were not alone; that there may be a significant gap in the information market.

We decided to begin a formal discovery process.

Research & Discovery

With backgrounds working inside and as contractors for modern tech startups, we have learned the value of testing and validating assumptions and ideas early and often, so we began a two-month research phase aimed at answering the following questions:

Key Survey Insights

Household Income: Interest in ethical buying is equal among respondents of all income levels.
Current Resources: There is universal mistrust of current, for-profit or industry-backed resources.
Methods Employed: Most respondents don’t have any resource they go to for these decisions and are simply doing Google searches.
Product Categories: Respondents aren’t focused on a single product category such as fashion or electronics. They are interested in information about all categories
Customer Desire: Respondents aren’t focused on a single product category such as fashion or electronics.

How important to you (10-point scale) are the ethical practices of companies you buy products from?

The survey results were clear: Ethical buying is important to people.

Competitor Feedback

Criteria is too vague, simplistic, with meaningless, inscrutable metrics.
Complicated explanation of metrics makes them less reliable, too much work.
No central place to check or compare.
Lack of transparency and trust. Unclear stakeholders. “Everything on these sites needs to be taken with a grain of salt.”

Respondent Wishlist

Metrics that are sophisticated but "makes sense."
Easy help in making decisions.
User-friendly, easy to find.
A tool to compare companies quickly.
Objectivity, clear understanding of who is providing the information.

Conclusion: People want to be be able to easily compare companies on their ethical practices with a resource they can trust. There is a gap in the information market.

Action Plan

After careful competitive analysis, customer surveys, researching Google search data, creative ideation, and feasibility analysis, we have formulated a lean solution to make the greatest impact with the least initial overhead.

We have assembled a core team with passion for the cause and backgrounds in software design, investigative journalism, creative development, storytelling, filmmaking, and digital marketing.

Our results were very promising. We established a nonprofit entity, a vehicle for tax-deductible funding, and we trademarked the name.

Our Lean Solution

Nonprofit

HumanLabel™ will be a nonprofit, non-ideological, consumerfacing web presence, database, and source of information about normalized labor statistics within known company supply chains.

Governance

Our founding board members Jan Baker and Alan Gover and other individuals seasoned in relevant areas will form an oversight fiduciary board to provide guidance on policy.

Research

Partnering with data journalists and through direct outreach, we will selectively analyze the supply chains of the world’s most sought-after products. In our lean phase, we will focus on quality over quantity.

Content Focus

We will build a content-focused brand, website, email list, and social channels, building a dedicated audience by providing real value to consumers.

The Label

Through testing, iteration, and feedback, we will perfect a "sticky" label that conveys the information most useful and desirable to consumers in a way that is instantly understandable.

Trust

Consumer Trust is our North Star. We must never become just another detachment on the ever-widening front of the culture war. Our primary values are transparency and non-judgment.

Execution Team

Zach Phillips Creative Director

Zach is a business strategist and developer/producer of content with a background in software design.

Matt Sullivan Research

Matt is a research and creative operations specialist with a background running newspapers.

Short Order Content Production shortorder.co

Short Order is a production house specializing in creative that audiences are actively seeking.

First Ascent Digital Marketing firstascentdesign.com

First Ascent is a digital marketing agency focused on email, search, and social.

Timeline & Scope

Branding, Marketing, & Strategy — $35,000
Messaging, value proposition
Identity, brandmark, style guide, voice & tone

Research & Data — $25,000
Database design, data-sourcing
Staffing, investigation, writing, content suppor

Administration & Project Management — $20,000
Team and task management
Financial administration, communications

Site Development & UI/UX — $25,000
Marketing site design/development
Content engine, information architecture

Content Production & Distribution — $150,000
Strategy, creative, writing, production
Social media management, email, SEO

Total Budget
$ 250,000

We thank you for your time.

We are seeking funding and partnership from philanthropic foundations and individuals to make HumanLabel™ a reality and begin to scale its reach.

One year and $250,000 is enough to get HumanLabel™ off the ground. To date, we have self-funded and will not seek any reimbursement. All new funding will go toward the action plan.

We will be providing monthly updates.

We are excited by the prospect of you joining us in this important effort.