Notes copied from the Hackpad

Pitching "Cooperation"

Context

Is there a pitch to disgruntled tech workers to get them to join coops?

Can we come up with a narrative and support structure for people in tech that is visible as an alternative to mainstream tech companies?

Rebranding cooperativism

Go Round

Matt - discussed rebranding cooperativism. What is it about the coop movement that is stale and mistrusted (see Coops Group, thanks). Confusions in society - links to communism...

Brian - bit out of my depth. Go round the other way! I hope one day that this movement will roll out in a way that I'm proud of and not embarrassed about.

Mark - hoping we can come up with some ideas about benefits to pitch to tech workers and ways to get the message out there.

Felix - not very clear why I'm here but agree with what's been said so far.

Jack - interested in changing people's perceptions of what cooperativism is and finding ways to move this forward in tech coops

Elias - interested in the infrastructure and support side, how we can put things in place to enable coops

Shaun - feel strongly that the VC / Angel model is trying to shoehorn a 19th C concept into a model that doesn't fit, and the coop model offers an alternative at a higher level. Using the word coop really switched people on in Brighton and the coop group has a vested interest in this.

Kate - Rebranding - maybe not throwing it out but rebranding. What are the benefits of a coop and how can we promote this. Moving away from the the left and right conversation - coop is not / should not be a weapon of the left, it is beyond this. Loomio has raised £500K in funding to change the nature of investment in coops - they are really interested in what is happening here.

Louise - interested in where coops sit and how they're perceived. What is a coop? Is it a social enterprise? Holding on to coops as innovative and creative. Political education about the coop movement - how you can spread this around in subtle way as well as explicit.

Ed - started Coop Web 10 years ago. Started a charity that is not a coop because of funding

Harry - Outlandish's aims are to win more clients and workers with aligned vision. Ideally, we would like to do £1m work with credit unions next year. Really like that coops can be inheritors of neoliberalism as well as communism. Like the idea of smear campaign of non-cooperative businesses - show them as exploitative. It's about makers, self-determination.

Alex - one of my friends said in the pub was that all the pitch about a startup, actually what they want is a coop - change people's live, doing good work, having creative life at work, ownership. So how can you market and promote this approach and model?

John - increasing visibility, and then you have this what is the story that we tell? what is the support structure?

Overview of different types of Coops / General Discussion

7 principles are a good place to start as they apply to both consumer coops and worker coops

Extent to which you can reverse worker cooperativism into consumer coops

Consumer coop is owned by its customers e.g. Phone Coop, Coop Group. Boards voted by their members.

Current thinking is to bring tech coops into these bigger consumer coops e.g. Brighton Digital Exchange - owning a data centre.

We have massive shop window but we are not using that visibility - how can we piggyback on this reach?

Big thing in Scotland is local governments divesting themselves into cooperatives e.g. Glasgow Leisure services.

Similar stuff happening in the social sector - contributing towards privatisation of the public sector.

In NZ, our biggest company Frontera is a coop, but it is not progressive at all.

Brian - If we focus on the 7 principles, it is difficult to market that - too many.

Mark - B Corps are defined on their outcomes whereas with coops its about the process.

Shaun - has to be a simpler message than 7 principles. They are a broad framework which can get bogged down in what is good coop and what's not.

Kate - agree. A framework is not a brand. Inverse of good marketing which is a simple message about the benefits.

Elias - one of the reasons people are in a coop is to make a living and mental and emotional prosperity.

Kate - prosperity and freedom

Alex - politics is antagonism, it will involved at some stage. Antagonistic messaging can be quite effective.

Louise - how can we fight back and sell our message in a forceful way that doesn't betray ourselves

Harry - disagree that coops are about processes, they are about outcomes and results. I believe that if there were 1000 worker coops in this country we would be in a much better place.

Elias - can we look at the audiences first and tease that apart before we look at the messages?

Louise - massive policy change in Glasgow shows how things can totally change in a relatively short space of time.

Brian - understand about the audiences, but also there is one single message that needs to be put out there and then it can be rephrased for different audiences

Message to:

clients
workers
general public

Don't use the word:

socialism
coop
7 principles

Breakout into small groups to brainstorm messages

avoid identifiable, ideological language (e.g. socialism)

General Public

Ethical
fairtrade
ownership
control
sustainable - stable - secure
accountable
practical
natural / common-sense
freedom
Demand prosperity and freedom
prosperity and freedom for everyone
Sustainability
environment
within business
The new world of work
working where you have total autonomy and creativity
Make our economy great again!
freedom from
rich 'exploiters' who don't give a shit about you
environmental degradation
Freedom is a fundamental human desire
"we want our freedom back"
Let's build it ourselves - you don't need to ask permission
Be yourself and get paid for it
things being fun at work
most people don't care about finding meaningful work
An alternative that works
Tech workers as vanguard
Skin the game in a coop

Clients

something like "value for money"
values = value
investment rather than expenditure
triple bottom line
transparency
honesty
trusted
engagement and commitment - working for you
more than a job
agile
not trying to rip you off
fascinated in what we are doing
happy devs - passionate devs
stable / sustainable
your business is our livelihood
can't be bought
independence
no shareholders
every £ goes on screen
socially responsible

Collaborators

complimentary skills
like-minded people
working together
simple
shared prosperity
'democracy' - take control!
spread benfits
process / outcome focussed
'stronger together'
education: case studies dispelling myths
doing work we enjoy
doing meaningful / purposeful work
togetherness
no boss

Next Steps

Long term aim and working group, these are short term actions

Get match funding
Talk to Gilded Splinters about creating a working group to discuss Coop branding and campaign ideas
Create a brief for marketing / branding campaign

Pitching Cooperativism 2016

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