Centretown-based LVD — a newly launched seller of powerlifting athletic gear with the motto Lift, Visualize, Dominate — is highlighting a trend toward social enterprises among businesses geared to the millennial generation.
The online business, which was co-founded by Mallory Rowan and Josh Reyes, who met while studying at Carleton University, has partnered with WaterAid Canada, an Ottawa-based organization that helps provide clean, fresh water to 37 countries around the world.
Rowan and Reyes, both nationally qualified powerlifters, designed the socially conscious start-up so that each sale contributes to the businesses’ clean-water mission.
The partners want to help other socially conscious athletes see how easy it is to create a positive impact.
“With each purchase, we donate 75 cents to WaterAid, which gives one person access to a month of clean water,” says Rowan.
Since LVD’s official launch on Nov. 9, Reyes says the business has had a steady stream of customers.
“So far, we’ve sold 400 products, which means we’ve helped provide clean water to 400 children in need – and our goal is for that number to continue to grow over the holiday season,” says Reyes.
Since starting out in 1981, WaterAid has reached 23 million people with clean water around the world.
The organization works in partnership with local governments, non-governmental organizations and utility companies to deliver water services to communities in need.
“We chose to partner with WaterAid Canada because the office is right here in Ottawa, so we were able to walk in one day and talk to them,” says Reyes.
“We know that they’re international and credible, and they’re investing in the futures of not only local communities but international as well.”
Michael Mulvey, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Ottawa and an expert in consumer behaviour, retailing and branding, says that LVD’s business model appears to be low-risk and scalable.
“The best customer to have is the one that’s fully engaged, which is especially possible through the Internet, but only if the company can reach people outside of its local market,” he says.
“The other side of the business — the cause and the ideological affinity of its customers — is also an advantage. The ‘from the people, for the people’ approach is a page forward in the persuasive advertising handbook.”
The apparel brand highlights a conscious movement from new businesses that market to an audience who are interested in supporting companies that support society.
A 2012 study by ad agency network TBWA, shows 71 per cent of young adults are more likely to purchase from a company that supports a cause they care about.
“We researched a lot before starting, and what we found was that people from the millennial generation will spend up to $6 more on a brand solely because of its social responsibility,” says Reyes.
Mulvey says that this ideology isn’t anything new, and the reason it works is because people are buying more and more with their conscience and it allows the consumer to connect with the company.
That philosophy is important to both Rowan, 22, and Reyes, 21, who market their brand at athletes who are unrepresented in the sport of powerlifting.
“There’s a lot of powerlifters who are the big, bald tattooed guys,” says Rowan. “But there’s a lot of us who aren’t like that. We wanted a brand that was more geared toward our personality.”
The co-founders see potential with the company’s frequent sponsorships at various powerlifting events, which has seen their brand being sold globally, and hope to one day be a household name.
“We want to one day compete with brands like Nike, as well as helping WaterAid reach its goal of universal access to clean water,” says Reyes.