Xavier Creative House is a sustainable marketing agency
Xavier Creative House (XCH) is a sustainable marketing agency operating in the healthcare industry, specializing in pharmaceuticals, biotech, and medical devices. Adopting a futuristic mindset, the agency launched as a virtual operation in 2013, accessing a global talent pool of brand builders, healthcare marketers, tech-savvy go-getters, and innovative dream-vetters.
With a positive, candid, and empathetic style, XCH develops enduring relationships that lay the foundation for long-term success and mutual growth with clients. XCH applies the team’s expertise, agility, and critical eye to create bold and evocative solutions that make a meaningful impression on patients and healthcare providers.
The team at Xavier Creative House are firm believers that life is about connections and healthcare is about life – so much so that the agency trademarked the phrase #WhereHealthCareBrandsLive®.
Adopting a holistic approach to bring sustainable design to healthcare marketing
Xavier Creative House has addressed the environmental, social, and economic facets of sustainable business design to create a healthcare marketing agency with a purpose. Developments look to lower the business’s carbon footprint, build a green culture while supporting the well-being of their employees, and deliver unprecedented results for their clients.
XCH looks to lower their carbon footprint
This is the third year running in which Xavier Creative House have addressed their carbon footprint by investing in carbon offset schemes.
XCH employees annually complete three surveys to build awareness around what constitutes as waste, challenging employees to reduce their environmental impact while also providing XCH with actual measurements employees can use to offset their emissions. Using these assessments, XCH offset 412% of the organization’s total CO2e emissions using the offset providers Climate Hero, Aclymate and the Carbon Fund.
XCH also updated their travel policy to have employees request low-emission rides when available and when utilizing rideshares such as Uber, Lyft, or Taxis. Plus employees are encouraged to choose airlines with sustainability efforts in place. In addition, XCH identified the equipment used by employees on an everyday basis might also contribute to business waste, heightening the employee’s carbon footprint based on how efficiently that equipment ran.
In 2020, XCH implemented continuous monitoring of PCs and other electronics to make immediate adjustments to conserve energy. The aim was to identify timely replacement of machines and software updates. This initiative was made visible to XCH’s employees who participate in a quarterly energy audit with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). As a result, XCH promptly replaced hardware that was inefficient and modified settings to maximize responsible energy consumption. The agency is now applying for CyberVadis Status to elevate its efforts.
XCH supports the health and well-being of their employees
In 2022, XCH published a state-of-the-art vendor code of conduct based on the XCH Core Values, the company’s 2050 pledge, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – of which they’ve prioritized 7 where XCH is positioned to have the most significant impact. Those SDGs include Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Reduced Inequality, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Partnerships to achieve Goals. For instance, to support the health and well-being of their employees, XCH brought on a Director of Wellness to give the team access to custom groups and individual fitness challenges.
XCH expects their suppliers to share a commitment to sustainability, which acts as a condition for starting and maintaining business relationships. XCH promotes this level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) across the industry as a Diversity Alliance for Science member. This relationship is a viable link in the sustainable supply chain for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device brands, where XCH has become a role model detailing what other businesses with 50 or fewer employees can do to make the world a better place.
XCH delivers unprecedented results for their clients
As a virtual, woman-owned healthcare marketing agency, XCH ensures their marketing efforts support the advancement of their client’s life science and healthcare products. XCH aims to provide better outcomes for the healthcare professionals and patients they serve. While doing so, XCH minimizes their impact on the environment, promotes inclusive economic growth, and establishes partnerships to achieve their goals.
As you can tell, XCH is committed to sustainable change, from promoting positive social change internally for employees, to mitigating the business’s environmental impact, to driving economic success for their clients. XCH signed up for the Green Business Bureau to showcase this commitment and is also in the process of applying for B Corporation certification.
Showcasing their commitment to sustainability with green business certification
XCH first began their sustainability journey as a team of eight employees with grass root efforts to address their impact on the environment, promote ethical business practices, and support employee health and wellness.
The first time they filled out a sustainability assessment, the XCH team’s eyes widened to the benefits of formalizing their programming, creating policies, and establishing green practices that were accessible to employees. XCH focused on establishing a company-wide green culture by integrating sustainability into recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and ongoing training processes.
The business joined the Carbon Fund, Climate Hero, and elevated their 3-year assessment requirement to an annual application. In addition, XCH became green business certified with the Green Business Bureau to expand their knowledge of how to address waste, equity, resilience, and health and wellness. XCH chose the Green Business Bureau because they knew GBB is a reputable and trusted source that’s committed to sustainability. As such, XCH looked to challenge their organization with GBB’s standards and interact with member businesses that shared XCH’s values.
XCH is an award-winning and unique sustainable marketing agency
As a virtual healthcare marketing agency that has under 50 employees, XCH could have bypassed carbon offsetting with the claim that its carbon footprint is too minimal to measure. Yet, for XCH this wouldn’t have been acceptable. Instead, they implemented Aclymate’s carbon accounting software to calculate and offset the brand’s carbon footprint accurately. The business wanted to stand as a role model for other micro-sized companies by aggressively pursuing a global sustainability certification standard and installing state-of-the-art systems to engage their employees in active participation to reach their 2050 goals. These goals are as follows:
- Pledge to Promote a Culture of Mutual Respect,
- Offset Our Carbon Footprint,
- Advance Sustainable Procurement,
- Emphasized Wellness Goals.
And XCH’s efforts are being recognized in their industry and operational region. For instance:
- Inc. Magazine named XCH on the 2022 Best in Business List in the Small and Mighty category.
- Medical Marketing + Media (MM+M) awarded XCH as the Best Places to Work in December 2021 and named XCH on the 2022 Agencies to Watch List.
- The Philidelphia Business Journal (PBJ) picked XCH as one of the region’s Healthiest Employers in 2022, after naming it as a finalist in 2021 and 2020.
XCH is just getting started on its sustainability journey, exploring creative and strategic solutions to make the world a better place.
Initially tasked by a client to apply for EcoVadis status – a sustainability rating provider – XCH has since reapplied annually, setting the bar high for their peers in the industry. In 2020, XCH achieved Silver Status. The brand then raised its CSR score by 10 points to obtain Gold Status in 2021. Four more points later and in 2022 XCH achieved Platinum Status ranking in the top 1% of companies in the advertising and market research industry rated globally. In comparison with over 100,000 EcoVadis-rated companies across 200+ industries in 175+ countries, XCH ranks in the 99th percentile for environmental, social, and ethical risks.
The challenge of integrating sustainability into the core business model
XCH focuses on delivering a white glove service, with bold and creative strategic solutions for its healthcare clients. The engagement of their team is all-in to deliver on their goals. Their challenge as a sustainable business has been to build their CSR efforts into the organization’s culture. Having a Director of HR & Sustainability allows this process to be seamless.
Developing a green culture is a top priority for XCH as they view sustainability as integral to their jobs as healthcare marketers, and not as an addition to their work. That is, the charge XCH makes for themselves and their suppliers is detailed in their Vendor Code of Conduct. This is XCH’s purpose.
Optimizing HR systems to develop a green culture
To mobilize a green culture, XCH’s HR Director and Sustainability Chair, Jennifer Blossom Beddingfield was appointed the company’s Sustainability Executive in recognition of her tireless pursuit to formulize the company’s grass root sustainability efforts. She oversees the overall execution, mission, and efficacy of the sustainability program. Jennifer has worked diligently to assess and analyze XCH policies and processes to identify areas for improvement in accordance with the organization’s sustainability commitment. She has successfully rolled out a robust employee engagement and development program to drive accountability to the individual team, along with a Human Resource Information System (HRIS), onboarding procedures, and lean operating frameworks to support the company’s green culture. Today, the XCH team is triple its original size since the beginning of the brand’s sustainability journey.
XCH is a healthcare marketing agency passionate about creating a sustainable future
“Xavier Creative House (XCH) is fueling our corporate social responsibility efforts with the same creativity and strategy we employ to grow our client brands as their healthcare marketing agency. We began our sustainability journey with awareness and promotion, followed by systematically upgrading our policies, procedures, and systems to support the integration of a green culture into our business model. XCH is passionate about creating a sustainable future and believes every person can make a difference“. – Jennifer Blossom Beddingfield, HR Director and Sustainability Chair of XCH
