When Phil Marshall founded Mischievous Wolf in 2023, he knew from the get-go that sustainability would be at the heart of what the company did, not only that, but he knew they must be a B Corp. Now, nearly two years on, not only is Mischievous Wolf a B Corp (an impressive feat in itself for a company so young), but it is driving sustainable impact through everything it does, from brand communication to exhibitor booth design.
As a brand and communication agency, Mischievous Wolf, works with a great many companies, from small to global, boosting their branding strategy, packaging, marketing, communications, and retail and event presence. With this comes opportunity and responsibility, something Mischievous Wolf takes very seriously.
“From our side, the creation of branding and style guides, right through to the retail builds, should be just as sustainable as the product itself, and great design shouldn’t come at the planet’s expense. So, we embed sustainability into our creative process from the start, to ensure brands look good, whatever the outcome,” said Dawn Wilson, chief rainmaker at Mischievous Wolf. “As a very proud B-Corp business, we live and breathe the need for environmental change and it means a lot to us to work closely with our clients to integrate this ethos into their brand identity and retail strategies, and ensure their environmental goals align with business success.”
One of the ways this shows up is how Mischievous Wolf chooses its partners. Phil Marshall, head of mischief, said, “We’re selective – on purpose. At Mischievous Wolf, we don’t chase shiny logos or fat cheques. We dig deeper. Ask the right questions. And choose partners who share our values, not just our invoices.
“We even put it in the handbook,” he continued. “Not for show – it’s there to help us run a better business, build better relationships, and stay proud of the company we keep. If a brand’s busy wrecking the planet, we’re out. Simple as that.”
And it’s not just its partners – its suppliers get the same treatment. “We’ve had the chats,” says Phil. “What are your sustainability goals? How are you actually making that happen – beyond the buzzwords?”
Where it can, Mischievous Wolf avoids plastic and opts for FSC-certified cardboard, recycled materials, or materials with a past life. “If it’s better for the planet, it’s better for us. No excuses. No greenwash. Just doing what we can, where we can,” said Dawn, adding, “We design with longevity in mind so that brands don’t need constant updates and thousands of assets that only warm up hard drives.
“In physical spaces, we ensure that retail stores, pop-ups and exhibitions follow this principle. Our approaches include FSC-certified paper, non-toxic inks, recyclable materials, modular systems that can be reused or modified to work time and time again, and energy efficient lighting displays.
“Looking ahead, we’re continuing to explore new materials, impactful design strategies, and responsible retail solutions to drive meaningful change.”
With trade shows requiring such volumes of material and product, Mischievous Wolf tries to recommend its clients towards more sustainable options and offer solutions to do so. Products of Change was lucky enough to have Mischievous Wolf design its exhibitor stand at Licensing Expo and Brand Licensing Europe last year, for which it repurposed waste from other stands. “It’s fun and it’s just thinking differently,” said Phil.
Some companies will build a stand and reuse or repurpose it year after year for as long as possible and this is something we are seeing more and more as companies become increasingly aware of the environmental impact as well as the economic benefit of more savvy resource usage.
Mischievous Wolf’s sustainability efforts are certainly not exclusive to its external work but begin right inside the business – indeed inside the office itself. Its building runs on green energy, it monitors its water usage and energy efficiency, utilises electric cars, manages its waste, it even evaluates the carbon footprint of any potential trips to London or abroad to balance whether it can instead be a Teams call and save the impact. “Every little step that you can make, every single thing we can look at, we have looked at,” said Phil, “We even use bamboo toilet paper!”
Through Ecologi, Mischievous Wolf has planted 3,500 trees, with an ambition to reach 6,000 by the end of this year. It also works closely with Marie Curie to donate excess product, and what it can’t donate, it recycles. Being in the business of product and retail, there is only so far its impact can be reduced, however it offsets all its emissions and then some. “We probably offset double what we actually create, and that’s shrinking. So, in reality, we probably offset three times how much we make,” explained Phil, which it calculated through the SME Climate Hub.
“There’s still mountains to climb,” said Phil, “But policies have changed, attitudes have changed.” Companies like Mischievous Wolf demonstrate that wearing your principals on your sleeve as a company, is a show of identity and transparency, and is becoming increasingly attractive for partnerships in the changing industry landscape.
