by ScamperBranding - 06/11/2009

The Dedicated Gold buyer

A question that we’re constantly faced with at Scamper is ‘What is ethical business?’.  We don’t believe that ethical business is limited to wind power and organic foods, but actually covers a wide range of business sectors and is in many ways more about attitude than anything else.

By taking a broader perspective to ethical business we can actually achieve much wider benefits and find more opportunities for social, environmental and financial profit.

Over the past few months we’ve been working with The Dedicated Gold Buyer, designing their brand identity, printed materials, retail graphics and website.  The high price of Gold has lead to a boom in gold trading recently, but Gold is not something that strikes you as the focus of a green or ethical business, especially considering environmental and social issues associated with gold mining.

However, if you stop to look at it objectively, The Dedicated Gold Buyer is probably one of the best examples of a green and ethical business you can find, because when you look under the skin, you realise that the entire business model is based on encouraging the recycling of unused gold.  Its a very simple concept:

1. You have old or broken gold jewellery that you no longer need.

2. The Dedicated Gold Buyer buy it from you.

The only real area that could raise ethical issues is whether consumers are offered a fair price for their gold, but The Dedicated Gold Buyer is committed to avoiding this issue by always offering fair market rates for the gold they purchase.  On top of that, they are actively involved in charitable fund-raising, have all their stationary and posters printed on FSC certified paper and provide a simple and easy way for people to make some money to help them through the recession.

The Dedicated Gold Buyer doe snot in anyway promote itself as a green business and some traditionalists may question why we’ve singled it out as an example, but the reason is simple:

Tackling social and environmental issues is about finding effective ways to met people’s needs while minimising our consumption of natural resources, rather than about looking stereo typically green.

The Dedicated Gold Buyer has done this by adding value to what would otherwise be a waste or redundant resource.  Hopefully, this example will inspire a few people to think outside the “green” box for business opportunities that are profitable for everyone.