Phase I

For twenty years, until 1997, the original mondofragilis partners Giray and Rodney delivered several stunning campaigns, both in the commercial and nonprofit world. They did exciting work for BMW, Air Canada, the Government of Kenya, Amadeus, the United Nations and the International Herald Tribune. Their client list numbered in the hundreds.

The euphoria of running a successful media and communications company was real. But then in 1997 tragedy struck when Rodney Guerrier passed away long before he was due. The shock to the company was tremendous and called for some major rethinking.

Over the next five years, admittedly, the team lacked clear focus. There was obviously something missing. Indeed, we realised that our vision was weak. We were working for so many different types of clients ranging from The Global Fund to SAP; both are great entities but obviously totally unrelated as regards their mission.

Phase II

It was time for a change. We wanted to stay in communications and media. After all, some of us had been in this business for twenty-five years. But we wanted to focus and feel a sense of satisfaction that, we realised, came mostly when we worked on nonprofit projects.

And so we made our choice. We put all our old brochures and showreels in a closet and started thinking from scratch.

We wanted a core group of motivated and versatile communications professionals. They would have analytical skills, proven strategic success, superb art direction, an overview of global media and rigorous production management expertise. They would also need a split personality. On the one hand a passion for marketing and promotion and on the other hand an awareness of humanitarian, development, environment, health and education agendas.

In addition to selling our skills, we would produce our own media and messages. We would contribute directly to the global good by creating educational, public awareness and advocacy output. We might even consider creating a forum for debate, a place for people who wanted to offer solutions.

Many ideas were debated, but we agreed that we would only produce messages that could cause change. We would not engage in messages that simply filled airspace or that, worse, promoted exploitive products or services.

Were we on the right track? Was this too much to ask? Was it utopia? Apparently not; it worked. Civil society organisations and the United Nations family started to notice us and call on us. It seems the focus was good.

Phase III

The success allowed us to push our dream further. We wanted to become involved in printing. We wanted to offer a cleaner, more ecologically friendly service. We found the perfect partners: printers who, since 1948, shared our same vision. naturaprint was the result of the merger. We also wanted to expand our studio offering. The result, messaggio studios, is set to become an avant garde studio whose mission is clear, to create messages that cause change.

Also during this phase, on one of those days of destiny, our senior partner, a vegan, was driving by an ice cream manufacturer's location when he realised how frustrated he was that vegans were deprived of so many foods. Indeed, this is a world filled with animal-based products. The result is mondofragilis alternatives, a company that launched with mondofragilis vegan ice cream and is now on its way to becoming a vegan foods and fair trade products company.

Phase IV++

Maybe someday, mondofragilis group companies may become major. But that's not the end game. Our goal is to remain true to our vision that a company can strive to be good and do good. We're not perfect, but we're trying real hard to make a difference — to cause change!