Yulu PR Becomes First Canadian Public Relations Agency to Achieve B Corp Certification

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 9, 2015) - Vancouver-based PR and influencer marketing agency Yulu Public Relations has become the first Canadian PR company to become a certified B Corporation.

Founded in 2011 by Melissa Orozco, Yulu specializes in social enterprise PR and influencer marketing. The company has garnered multiple awards for its work with nonprofits such as F-Cancer and World Housing, and has also worked with brands such as Charitweet and Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership.

Benefit Corporations (B Corps) are a new type of company that builds positive social and environmental impact into its business model. The certification process, which can take more than a year, includes a rigorous evaluation of how a company's practice impacts its employees, clients, community and environment. It requires that all of these groups be incorporated as stakeholders into the company's framework.

"We've always championed the idea of using PR as a force for good, but becoming a social enterprise agency happened organically a few years ago," said Orozco. "Half our clients were cause-based organizations - we realized then we'd found our niche. The positioning really resonated with people, so we decided to put our values and business practices to the test by completing the B Corp assessment."

"Becoming a B Corporation has helped us distinguish ourselves from other PR and communications agencies. We're glad to be part of this great, collaborative community," Orozco added.

Earning a B Corporation certification is part of a larger move on Yulu's part to develop the practice of "impact relations" as a subsector within PR: sharing stories of measurable positive impact that an organization or individual has on communities and society.

Other notable B Corps include Patagonia, Hootsuite, Method, Warby Parker and Ben and Jerry's. There are more than 110 Canadian B Corporations and more than 1,400 B Corporations around the world.

About B Corp

B Corporations are certified by the non-profit B Lab to voluntarily meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. Certified B Corporations distinguish themselves in a cluttered marketplace by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business; better for workers, better for communities and better for the environment.

The B Corporation community includes 1,441 companies from 38 countries and over 121 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: harness the power of the private sector for public benefit and redefine success in business.

About B Lab

B Lab is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 in the USA by Bart Houlahan, Jay Coen Gilbert and Andrew Kassoy. It serves a global movement to redefine success in business so that all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.

B Lab drives this systemic change by:

1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier to tell the difference between "good companies" and good marketing;

2) advancing public policy to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing ;

3) providing free, powerful tools for businesses to measure, compare, and improve their social and environmental performance (20,000+ businesses use the B Impact Assessment);

4) promoting B Analytics, a customizable platform for investors to collect, benchmark, and report impact data.