‘No-one quite believes we’re a hard-nosed value-driven business, until they see the results’ interview with ethical advertising platform, The Good-Loop

TechRound had a chance to chat with Daniel Winterstein, the co-founder of ethical advertising platform The Good Loop. The  promising startup aims to make the internet a more positive experience for all. Simply put, if viewers decide to watch their ads for at least 15 seconds, then 50% of the revenue of each watched advertisement is then donated to a charity of their choice. Not bad right?

Many brands agree. The Good-Loop already works with companies such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, Toms as well as a wide range of media partners including the Economist, Shortlist and the Guardian. And that is not all: Daniel, alongside his co-founder Amy Williams, recently secured a £1.2 million investment to expand into Europe and the US.

We spoke to Daniel about his experiences so far running The Good-Loop, both good and bad!

 

As founders, what is the best part of your job? 

 

Seeing the company grow, from just a shared idea, to a living thing — a team of people, a set of clients, and a product that does something valuable.

 

Can you explain more about the higher levels of ad engagement The Good Loop achieves?

 

So most ads are wasted, or worse, they annoy their audience. We give people a positive reason to give their attention — and that leads to higher engagement.

 

We measure that via in-advert engagement — we A/B test the completion rate for video ads with and without Good-Loop, and we consistently get much higher completion. Perhaps more important are the post-advert brand-uplift surveys. These show that the Good-Loop approach leads to better results — people remember the ad more, and they think better of the brand.

 


What was the process of starting an ethical advertisement platform like, any surprising challenges that came up?

 

There have been plenty of challenges! But I think the surprise has been how supportive many people have been, and I’m grateful to everyone who’s helped us.

 

good-loop-founders
The Good-Loop founders: Amy Williams and Daniel Winterstein.
There is a minor challenge that everyone thinks we’re nicer than we are! No-one quite believes we’re a hard-nosed value-driven business, until they see the results. But businesses can – and should – have a positive purpose, whilst still making a profit. And vice-versa: making a profit margin means your business can scale to do more.

 

 

Is there anything you wish you knew before starting The Good-Loop?

 

So far so good… Ask me in 5 years time!
 

 

What is the achievement The Good-Loop is most proud of to date?

 

The charity impact that we, our clients, and our audience have funded. Together we’ve raised over £750,000 for good causes. I have a thank-you letter on my wall from the Red Cross, with a photo from an African clinic of a happy little kid, who had pneumonia and would have died — but he got treated. I’m proud to contribute, albeit only remotely, to such genuinely life-changing interventions.

 

What are your future plans for The Good-Loop?

 

We plan to grow, both in the UK and internationally. The bigger we get, the more impact we have.
We’re also developing a user portal, My.Good-Loop.com, so people can join us. It’s not ready yet, but we’re working on user-empowerment tools, to let you see into how advertising uses your data — and to take control of that, and put your data to work for good causes.
 

 

What is the ultimate goal of The Good-Loop?

 

To connect people and brands around good purposes, as part of a better approach to business.