Mission & Marketing with Jamie Lamonde of Kindship Group
It takes both creativity and partnerships with mission-aligned people and organizations to effectively market ethical and organic consumer goods.
Today we speak to Jamie Lamonde and reflect on her top marketing lessons from working with mission-driven companies. Lessons that she’s used to found The Kindship Group, a full-service agency that empowers businesses to grow in size and impact. As we explore Jamie’s career, she unpacks what her varied roles have taught her as well as how she’s contributed to each company’s success. Early in our conversation, we dive into her work for Organic Valley, with Jamie sharing insights into their grassroots marketing approach. After touching on how she created the magazine Edible Madison, we discuss how Jamie helped Farmer Direct Organic launch their first consumer brands. A key lesson on rebranding your company and the importance of communicating with your community, Jamie then explains why and how Kickapoo rebranded to Wonderstate Coffee. Finally, we look at how her past experiences have culminated in the creation of her mission-driven agency.
Listeners looking to maximize their organizations will benefit from Jamie’s story. So join us to learn more about building agencies with an impact.
Key Points From This Episode:
Jamie shares details about her personal journey and why she moved to Wisconsin.
Hear about the impactful experiences that gave Jamie a love for organic food.
What led Jamie to work for Organic Valley.
How Jamie’s career has been guided by her desire for mission-driven work.
Jamie talks about how she grew as Organic Valley scaled their business.
Reflecting on Organic Valley’s mission to “save family farming culture through organic farming.”
Aligning your organization’s mission with your marketing goals.
The story of how Jamie created the magazine, Edible Madison.
Unpacking Jamie’s role at Farmer Direct Organic.
What Jamie did to grow e-commerce sales for Wonderstate Coffee.
Why Kickapoo Coffee changed its name to Wonderstate Coffee.
Exploring the challenges of rebranding Kickapoo Coffee.
How communicating and working alongside your community can lead to effective rebranding.
Jamie discusses her experience from having founded The Kindship Group.
Find out about Jamie’s vision for Kindship’s future.
Towards creating a more intentional and nurturing workplace culture.
Tweetables:
“Everything about it was mission-driven, heartfelt, and informative. It felt like Organic Valley was leading a movement that I wanted to be a part of.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:09:02]
“I grew up at Organic Valley. I started working there when I was 23. As the company grew, I was personally growing up as well.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:12:11]
“We always said that we were a social experiment disguised as a business. And that is 100% what it was — because our mission was so strong.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:13:42]
“We had healthy budgets but we needed to be creative. A lot of that was about relationships and finding other mission-aligned people and organizations to work with through our marketing efforts.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:14:32]
“People knew that story-telling and education about where your food comes from matters. And that these stories can change social behavior.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:19:40]
“The mission of the Edible Madison magazine was to connect the foodshed.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:21:35]
“When rebranding Kickapoo Coffee’s — what matters most is we made the change because it’s the right thing to do. And we communicated about it — and about making mistakes along the way. But that is authentic communication and marketing. And it’s the correct approach.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:30:55]
“With re-branding, it is progress and not perfection. And when you think you’re communicating enough, you can always be communicating more.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:35:58]
“People want communication. They want to feel included and that’s not always hardwired into business culture — to be softer and to communicate. I hope we shift in that direction. Then people can come along with your mission in a way that creates life-long consumer-partners.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:36:08]
“I have met so many amazing people. My mission with The Kindship Group was to bring those people together to help entrepreneurs to grow their missions and their impact in the world.” — Jamie Lamonde [0:37:20]
“Mainstream business culture expects that we separate our personal and professional lives. But that’s not how humans work. We’re shifting towards workplaces becoming more intentional and nurturing places.” — Jamie Lamonde [00:41:58]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Jamie Lamonde on LinkedIn
The Kindship Group
Organic Valley
Edible Madison
Farmer Direct Organic
Heirloom Marketing + Media
Wonderstate Coffee
Earth Block International
Joel Mellor
Theresa Marquez
The Kickapoo County Fair
Edible Portland
Ecotrust
Deborah Kane
Edible Communities
Tracey Ryder
Carole Topalian
Edible Austin
Jim Klousia
Jason Freeman
Shizue Roche Adachi
Tropicana
