Designing & marketing products to normalize ethical business

I connected with Lucie Le Liard pretty randomly. A vegan named Geoff Stamp, who finds and connects vegans everywhere, alerted me to Lucie. Let’s learn all about her!

When and how did you go vegan?

I went vegan 5 to 6 years ago. It was the result of several years of reflection on my diet and the impact of my consumption on the environment and people and animals.

For many years, I had been facing eating disorders and my relationship with food was tinged with anxiety. One day I realized that a reason that caused this uneasiness was that I didn’t want to be eating animals. I also remembered that when I was little, I tried many times to express the fact that I didn’t want to be eating animals but I grew up in a French family where traditions, especially around food were very important, and kids couldn’t really have an opinion about anything.

Eventually, I found my balance, and I found peace in veganism. Now my relationship with food is a very healthy and happy one!

How did you get into marketing, and what kind of marketing you do now?

I got into marketing though branding. I have been working as a designer for 8 years, and in 2020 I created Positive Impact Studio, a branding and product design studio dedicated to helping climate tech and vegan food tech companies become leaders in their market, to normalize more ethical ways of consuming and doing business.

What kind of work fires you up right now?

Throughout the years, my team and I have been commissioned to design and implement a lot of different marketing websites. I personally became an expert at delivering marketing website projects from ideation to launch. Our process includes discovery and strategy, competitive analysis, information architecture, copywriting, wireframes, UI/UX, and development. We work with really talented partners that continue to deliver value to our clients on long term for SEO and paid ad services.

Share your best marketing win, and one marketing horror story.

My favorite project so far was for a skirt brand called Unseem. I was commissioned by Viya (Unseem’s founder) to help her create a brand around the concept of a brand that sells a unique model of unisex skirt, but she also wanted to bring a whole community around her brand. It wasn’t just a skirt; it was going to be a symbol of freedom and expression.

My team and I helped Viya articulate a story around the concept she had in mind. We proposed art direction, the name for the brand and the product, and Viya managed to pre-sell many skirts and raise funds beyond her initial objectives through a crowdfunding platform. She had such good results because of her great work, but she assured us she wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for the amazing design and story we delivered.

My marketing horror story began as they usually do, by accepting a project with a new client that presented several red flags that I unfortunately chose to ignore. It was a project for a marketing website. The client was quite in a hurry and had a small budget, but it was important to us to deliver the most value possible to them. So we optimized the whole project and let them take care of their copywriting.

Throughout the project, the client wasn’t responsive, and we had to follow up many times to get replies to our questions. Then several employees left the company without leaving any notes to their colleagues about the ongoing project with us. We nonetheless managed to deliver wireframes, ready to receive their copy, and we were praised for the quality of our work. We waited months for them to give us their copy so we could move forward with the development, but we never received it. Sadly, we couldn’t do anything else for them and to this day, we don’t know if our beautiful work will ever be online. 🙁

Who or what vegan company do you think is crushing in marketing right now?

Oatly has always been amazingly creative, from the story they tell on their packaging to their website UX. It shows their non-conformism, quirkiness, and values in a super fun way.

Secondly, the French brand of vegan ham and bacon La Vie is doing an incredible work. Their website copy is super fun and witty and they have a unique tone of voice referencing traditional adages, combined with a lot of pink and cute character illustrations that result in a very identifiable and fun brand.

Do you provide any other services than marketing?

Yes! We do a lot of product design 🙂

You can find Lucie and Positive Impact Studio at PositiveImpact.studio.