In 2018 £9.6 billion ($12.5 billion) was spent on digital advertising in the UK alone. Meanwhile more and more people are using ad blockers to avoid online advertising. Add to that the statistic that 18% of charities are struggling to survive and former ad exec Amy Williams realized there was an opportunity in the market.
"My business is all about using ad money to solve the world's problems," she explained. "I knew how much money there is in the advertising industry, having previously worked in it - and I knew that all that money just passes from one big conglomerate to another with absolutely no positive impact."
Williams decided to attempt to redesign the system to enable charities and NGOs to tap into advertising transactions.
"I remember thinking, what if I could make advertising a force for good? That's what really excited me, and still excites me about what we're doing."
Williams' business model works by donating half of the money made by a viewer watching one of Good-Loops ads to a charity of the viewer's choice. According to Williams, this method delivers a more engaged audience, a better experience for the user and a sustainable, long-term source of funding for good causes.
"Online advertising sucks," Williams added. "It pops up, it auto-plays and it interrupts. It's fair to say the system is broken."
Adblocking is set to cost the industry $75 billion by 2020, but Williams says a constant battle is the misconception that her business model would lose advertisers money.
"Fundamentally with Good-Loop, doing good makes good business sense. This is something we have to work hard to make each new customer, partner, investor and colleague understand. The social aspect of our business isn’t a ‘nice to have’ - as many investors of mine have tried to suggest - the social aspect is a fundamental competitive advantage in an industry full of distrust and negativity."
Good-Loop has been trading for less than three years but has already raised more than £200,000 ($261,560) for charities such as Save the Children, WaterAid, London Air Ambulance, and more.
"That's ad money that would have otherwise gone to line Google & Facebook's pockets. And we're on track to raise over £5m in free charitable donations by 2021."
Williams added: "The really heartwarming part of our job is working with the charities and organizations to translate the donation pounds and pence into tangible impact.
"For example, we ran a campaign with TOMS which raised enough to fund 900 nights of accommodation for homeless people. And a campaign with Lynx, supporting anti-bullying charity Ditch The Label, funded over one thousand one-to-one support sessions to help young people overcome bullying."
After 15 seconds of viewing, the free donation is "unlocked" - and the advertiser is charged.
"We typically look at two metrics: completed view rate - the % of people who watch for 15 seconds or more - and post-donation retention rate - the % of people who watch from 15 seconds until the end of the ad. "
Good-Loop employs nine people, and currently has an annual turnover of "between £1 million to £3 million".
"Our ambition is simple," Williams said. "To turn advertising into a positive force in the world."
Williams intends to run Good-Loop's ethical ads for global brands across the world and is currently talking to investors about raising some growth funding, which will help to increase brand awareness and scale up sales operations in the UK and beyond.
"Good-Loop is changing the world by proving that you can make money whilst making the world a better place. It's not an either or; it's not a trade-off.
"We prove it to our customers - who get better ad engagement whilst funding good causes - and we prove it to the wider world by being a growing profit-plus-purpose company. Good-Loop is a living breathing example of a 'zebra' company. A company that's black and white, ethical and profitable, impactful and scalable - and this is something I'm incredibly proud of."
