Sweetshop is officially B Corp Certified

The Sweetshop has officially joined the global B Corp movement, marking a new chapter in its journey as a production company with creativity and conscience at its core.

How you do anything is how you do everything. 

When it comes to creating, whether art, craft, or story, alignment often comes naturally. But when the focus shifts to running a business, the vocabulary changes: efficiency, productivity, profit and loss, human resources. All important, but often lacking the heart of creativity. Growth inevitably reshapes priorities, particularly when responsibility extends to the livelihoods of a team and the weight of overheads. In the process, it can be easy to lose sight of the values that sparked a company’s beginnings.

Recognising this, The Sweetshop set out to create a framework that would keep the business accountable and closely connected to its founding principles. Three years ago, the company began the journey toward B Corp certification, a rigorous process designed to measure and strengthen a business’s impact on its people, its community, and the world.

Today, The Sweetshop is proud to officially be B Corp certified.

For CEO and Co-Founder Melanie Bridge (pictured), this moment is about more than a badge: “When we started The Sweetshop, our dream was to build a home for creativity and integrity, but over the years we learned that good intentions just aren’t enough,” says Bridge.

From a small start in Auckland in 2001 to five global offices, The Sweetshop has spent over two decades chasing the good stuff — bold ideas, great craft, unforgettable stories. But underneath the success, there was a nagging sense of disconnect.

Despite Sweetshop’s fervent resolve to challenge norms and enact positive change, it recognised a disheartening truth: it hadn’t fully delivered on that promise. This raised a key question for the company – how could it continue producing brilliant work while also genuinely supporting its people and the wider world?

The team chose B Corp precisely because the bar is set so high, with the certification recognised as the global gold standard for businesses driving positive change. While the process is not for the faint-hearted, it was exactly the kind of rigour The Sweetshop was looking for, leaning heavily into investing in the humans behind the craft.

“Because if we’ve got one secret ingredient, it’s always been the people who make us uniquely Sweetshop,” says Bridge.

“We did question whether a company in advertising could truly call itself a force for good. But, what we discovered through this process is that positive change is possible in countless small and large ways, and that embracing progress is far more important than striving for perfection.”

Under the B Corp framework, the production company has recently launched an internal film fund, open to everyone on the team, from Directors to Production Assistants. It’s a chance for anyone under the Sweetshop roof to stretch their storytelling muscles beyond the commercial world, anchored by a mentorship program built to champion emerging directors with guidance from those who’ve done the miles.

“It’s policies like this, ones that back creative minds and give them room to grow, that feel like the real reward,” says Bridge. “After a few tough years of unpicking the company to rebuild it in a healthier way, this is the good bit.”

Says Sweetshop Australia’s co-Managing Director Edward Pontifex: “Achieving B Corp certification is a proud moment for The Sweetshop—proof that doing good and doing great work can go hand in hand.”

For The Sweetshop, B Corp isn’t a theory; it’s how the company runs. On set, it means reducing waste and emissions without compromising craft. For its people, it’s about representative crews, fair opportunities, and real support across every region. And in the wider world, it’s a commitment to give back, open doors, and use creativity to make a positive impact well beyond the screen.

As Bridge puts it: “B Corp isn’t about being perfect; it’s about embracing progress.”

For The Sweetshop, that progress means holding itself to the same standards it wants to see reflected in the industry: inclusive, ethical, creatively fearless.