172 years after the men and women of Rochdale founded the modern (consumer) co-operative movement why is it that we are still talking about barriers to making co-operatives mainstream? Indeed it was THE ‘hot topic’ at the Co-operatives UK Congress earlier this year.

The International Co-operative Alliance is the guardian of the Co-operative Identity and it’s Values and Principles. These state that: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. And that the the co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice.

Principle 5 is about Education, Training and Information and explains how co-operatives “inform the general public - particularly young people and opinion leaders - about the nature and benefits of co-operation”.

Why then, if 17.5 million people own almost 7000 co-ops in the UK which contribute £34 billion to the British economy, do so many people think that co-operatives are the place where you buy your bread, milk and tea?!

Why are co-operatives failing to fulfil their own Principles and educate, train and inform? This is not just a UK phenomenon. Co-operative communicators in many countries face the same issue. The International Co-operative Alliance launched the Communicator’s Guide to Co-operative Identity in 2013. In it Charles Gould, Director-General of the International Co-operative Alliance, states:

“Co-operatives can’t just be different or better and hope the world sees. We need to intentionally manage the co-operative image. We want to reinforce the message that co-operatives are genuine self-help models for addressing some of the world’s most intractable problems: hunger, poverty, inequality, unemployment, environmental degradation. We want to further explain that they are successful, world-class businesses that operate ethically at scale.”

One reason for this lack of awareness and understanding of the co-operative model could be the fact that the UK’s largest co-operative - The Co-operative Group (TCG) - branded itself as 'The Co-operative'. A marketers dream to have a brand with logical sub-brands - Pharmacy, Travel, Food, Funeralcare etc but this brand didn’t educate its customers and employees that co-operatives are a business model. The man or woman on the street doesn’t understand that there is a fundamental difference between a Clubcard, a Nectar Card and a Membership Card. It did not say that:

these businesses were part of a global movement;

that “shopping” at a co-operative is different to “shopping” at another type of retailer because it is owned by its members and not shareholders;

co-operative businesses care about their supply chain, they are ethical and values driven

But it’s not all down to TCG, co-operatives themselves need to shoulder some of the blame.

The International Co-operative Alliance launched the global Co-operative Marque in November 2013, a FREE logo for all co-operatives to use, every country, every sector, ever co-op. A logo that was intended to unite the movement. And yet, by the end of 2015 just 215 UK co-operatives had applied to use it, with just 11 registering from January - March 2016. Compare this to 302 in the US and 860 in Japan where the Apex body, JA-ZENCHU, registered all of it’s members on their behalf, promoting the Marque as a member benefit. (Apply at www.identity.coop).



Co-operatives ARE successful businesses owned by their members. Indeed, there are 2.6 million co-operatives in the world, with 1 billion members and the largest 300 co-operatives have a turnover of 2.36 trillion USD. I firmly believe that if people were able to identify a co-operative immediately when they walked along the high street, visited a website, or browsed through a publication then perhaps this would go some way to educating the general population. People will come to know that co-operatives are organisations that operate in every economic sector across the globe, that they share a common set of values and principles, that they are owned by their members, support their local community and put people before profit. If we can achieve this, then we will be living in a better world, a fairer world, a more co-operative world. Then, if they wish, people will find it easier to make ethical buying decisions and choose co-operatives above businesses owned by shareholders; in the same way that you can look for Fairtrade or Fair tax marks. This is how we make co-operatives mainstream.

And it is for this reason that branding.coop helped the Co-operative Councils’ Innovation Network promote its co-operative identity by using the Co-operative Marque as part of its own slogan: