In 1990, one of the last great stands of Canada’s temperate interior rainforest, outside Nelson, B.C., was slated for clear-cut logging. It would create a few jobs for a few years, but the community knew the cost was too high. Hundreds turned out to block the road.
David decided to put his talents toward creating a satirical line of t-shirts to raise awareness and support a petition and letter-writing campaign. Over five gruelling years travelling across Canada more than a dozen times, visiting universities and stores, he built a network of more than 180 retailers carrying his t-shirts. Tens of thousands of petition signatures poured in.
With funding from Aveda to produce a video about the threatened forest, the campaign tipped the scales. Ultimately, this collective effort helped establish the 65,000-acre West Arm Provincial Park, which is now protected forever.
Soon after the success of protecting the forest, businesses began asking David to create branded merchandise for them, uniforms, festival t-shirts, and promotional products. The company grew rapidly, but something was missing: the kind of transformative impact achieved with the forest campaign.
We witnessed many customers wasting money on flashy marketing tools that delivered little return. Our perspective on promotional products was very different, shaped by our early efforts to save a threatened forest. We viewed them as powerful vehicles for telling your story with impact, sparking an emotional connection every time someone interacted with your merchandise. No other form of marketing could match that lasting bond.
Of course, just slapping a logo on a product and handing it out? That’s useless swag. We transformed promotional products into meaningful, story-infused experiences, carefully crafted touchpoints that invited curiosity, fostered belonging, and nurtured authentic relationships. They became symbols of hope and action that inspired lasting connections long after the first impression.
This unique, compassionate approach helped us earn seven national marketing awards and delivered real results for our clients, proving that purpose-driven merch can be a catalyst for lasting change.
Before the pandemic, we launched SimpleLeads™ apps to help customers capture better-qualified leads, reduce print costs by up to 100%, and save trees at every event.
When the pandemic hit, we pivoted quickly with GreenShows™, our virtual and hybrid event platform dedicated to keeping people connected while reducing waste.
In 2024, we launched GreenMeets™, a vibrant global community platform connecting changemakers across six continents. Already, meaningful collaborations and new projects have blossomed as people meet in this purpose-driven ecosystem, filling our hearts with hope.
Those first t-shirts weren’t just fabric and ink. They were powerful tools sparking conversation and building a purpose-driven community centred on saving a threatened forest. They became symbols of hope and action.
Along this journey, we’ve met countless changemakers with incredible potential, but many struggled because marketing hadn’t caught up to their vision.
That’s why today we focus on coaching and consulting, sharing this natural-systems-inspired approach to help you transform your brand into a thriving ecosystem of authentic connections, purposeful stories, and lasting impact.
Ready to grow your purpose ecosystem with story-infused merch, meaningful events, and marketing that truly connects?
Let’s build something alive together.
If you’d like help weaving this story into other marketing materials or presentations for maximum emotional effect, we’re here for you.
Let's make marketing sustainable together!
DoBetter Marketing
(a division of Avatar Brand Management Inc.)
Purposeful marketing with measurable impact — built for people and planet
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