The Other Bar is a case of a rather unique business model. The company behind the product, FairChain Foundation, believes that inequality and poor living conditions are some of the most pressing challenges globally. In collaboration with the UN, they have set about improving upon these challenges.

The framing for the companys solution is the fact that they don’t believe Fairtrade is ambitious enough to ensure a living wage for farmers. Furthermore, there is a growing concern in the population that money donated to charities never reach the people in need, but rather end in the pockets of greedy middlemen.

To solve these two problems, The Other Bar has designed a chocolate bar. What makes it unique is, that when you begin to unpackage the product you will find a code. The code enables you to either donate a blockchain token to Ecuadorian farmers or to get a discount on your next purchase. The token lets you track the direct impact. Either you help donate directly to finance new cocoa trees or boost the sales of the bars, which then again increase the demand for Ecuadorian cocoa.

Furthermore, FairChain Foundation uses their marketing budget on financing more tokens. The company believes, that their impact is enough to create customers loyalty and money reinvested in the customers turns into impact.

All in all, The Other Bars business model is reminiscent of a classic ‘buy-one-give-one’ or ‘donation-based’ business model. What makes it stand out is, that this product is designed to involve the customer and enable their desire to do good. This involvement is meant to improve loyalty, brand awareness and impact without using conventional marketing, thus freeing up financing for the tokens.

More about The Other Bar on: www.theother.bar

Photo: from The Other Bars webpage