How B Corps Navigate Next-Gen Business Decisions

In the B Corp community, businesses across sectors and geographies share a goal of operating with positive impact as they encounter evolving technologies and shifting markets. Two B Corps share how values including inclusion, resilience, and transparency help guide their practices and products — and shape a better future for people and the planet.

Making a business commitment to social and environmental impact improvement can involve large-scale projects and long-term planning. But the measurable, meaningful changes often happen through tasks and decisions that people make each day at the more than 9,000 Certified B Corporations around the world. 

At Mad Fish Digital, a Portland, Oregon-based digital marketing agency, the emergence of artificial intelligence presented new ethical and practical challenges. With its code of ethics as a framework, the B Corp collected input from team members in shaping its external AI Policy and internal working documents for employees. “Our goal was to have a clear framework for identifying how and when to leverage generative AI in a way that aligns with our ethical marketing philosophy and our position as a values-first agency,” says CFO and Co-Owner Corrie Herman. 

Canadian consumer goods company Herbaland Naturals aims to stand out in the growing gummy vitamin market with products and practices that are good for people and the planet. The B Corp’s holistic view of well-being includes product donations to community organizations and packaging decisions to minimize environmental impact. 

Marketing Manager Joshua Hueller says being a B Corp is important to Herbaland because it’s a reflection of its purpose. “Being a B Corp lets our customers know where we stand, and the positive impact we strive to create,” he says. 

Keep reading to learn more about the future-minded practices and products at Mad Fish Digital and Herbaland, and explore B Lab U.S. & Canada’s resource library for more impact-minded business practices. 

Navigating AI Ethically: How Mad Fish Digital Aligns Innovation with Impact

While evolving technology is a part of the business landscape for many businesses, the emergence of AI is creating new opportunities and new questions. This is especially relevant at values-driven creative agencies like Mad Fish Digital that prioritize inclusion, transparency, and equity. The ethical challenges related to AI use include bias, data privacy, and intellectual property — concerns that can stymie its work as an impact-minded business. 

As a B Corp since 2018, Mad Fish Digital has long considered the broader impact of its actions — on its industry, community, customers, and environment — when making decisions, a business philosophy that helped shape its code of ethics. That code served as a framework for the B Corp’s ethical marketing policy, which was created and published in 2023. 

“As part of developing that policy, we determined that we had an obligation to expand our education and define our position around AI,” Herman says. “Our clients look to us to help them navigate the marketing challenges around technology like AI. That level of trust requires us to really understand how we can best guide the work forward.”

In considering the role of AI at the agency, Mad Fish Digital collected input from leaders, department heads, and B Team members. Their thoughts on the impacts, opportunities, and challenges around AI helped frame the B Corp’s external AI Policy and internal working documents for teams to reference. These documents come in handy when team members encounter dilemmas during everyday tasks. “Each of our service lines has specific criteria around the use and adoption of AI tools,” Herman says. 

Mad Fish Digital leaders also use a set of guiding questions when evaluating opportunities and challenges. They include:

• Does this align with our company’s purpose?
• What potential benefit(s) to our clients does this bring?
• What potential challenge(s) can be caused by this service?
• Does it align with established privacy laws and requirements?

“Our position as a B Corp marketing agency uniquely positions us to help navigate the ethical challenges that AI can pose,” Herman says. “Generative AI, in this early stage, forces the need for more transparency and greater privacy protections online. It can also open doors for increased accessibility and equity of information.”

Balancing the benefits of technology with the potential for harm requires a human touch. At Mad Fish Digital, when teams identify issues that pose a potential challenge to the B Corp’s AI policy or ethical marketing policy, they are passed along to leadership for discussion, reflection, and decision-making. “The issue is challenging, but leaning on our commitment to B Corp values will continue to help us navigate a healthy path forward,” Herman says. 

Herbaland’s Holistic Impact: Sustainable Packaging and Community Well-Being

The gummy vitamins that Vancouver-based B Corp Herbaland creates are designed to support the well-being of its customers. That mindset also drives its practices to benefit its employees, community, and the environment. 

Hueller says Herbaland aims to lead by example and inspire change among its business peers. On the production side, that means taking gradual steps to continually minimize its environmental impact. “In both the vitamin and snacks industry, there is a lot of waste created through production and packaging. We try to reduce this or offset this in different ways,” he says.

After trying compostable packaging, Herbaland realized the technology was not yet refined to meet its standards and customer expectations. Now, its vitamins are packaged in post-consumer recycled bottles that don’t use any virgin plastic. “While this is not a perfect solution, we acknowledge that and strive for a better solution in the future,” Hueller says. 

The company’s broader view of well-being is reflected in its commitment to community organizations. In 2024, Herbaland worked with more than 40 charity organizations and made more than $200,000 worth of in-kind donations to reach people who may not have access to its products. 

By improving its practices and expanding partnerships, Herbaland takes big and small steps to help make a positive difference. “The greatest lesson we’ve learned is that we’re all part of the problem, but without realizing that, we can’t be part of the solution,” Hueller says. “From realization, we can take action, and we can start with small collective actions. As we work together, we can accomplish something great.”

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