Social cooperative as an advertising business

Promocjone.com was set up in 2014 in Barlinek. One building and one address – Barlinek, Szpitalna street – houses an advertising studio, a store and a workshop all put together. “After several years of working in the field we decided to combine our forces and make something new. We were driven by our passion and can-do attitude to helping small and medium-sized enterprises,” – says Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka, the President of the company.

 

A cooperative is an unusual form of business for an advertising studio, but it this case the choice was a natural consequence of the founders’ professional experience.  “Cooperative movement ideals, i.e. democratic and joint efforts accompanied by mutual responsibility, have been instilled in us when we were working for a cooperative bank.  This is when we first had dealings with the Social Economy Support Centre in the Stargard region and when we developed our blog about the cooperative movement - Blog Modna Spółdzielczość,” says Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka.

  

According to the regulations of the law a social cooperative primarily focuses on running a joint venture based on the work of its members rendered personally. Social co-ops serve to socially and vocationally reintegrate its members. The business profits earned by a cooperative cannot be the sole purpose, but rather should serve as a means to fulfil statutory objectives.  “Apart from our economic activity, this form of business allows us to undertake social, cultural and educational projects for the benefit of our members and the local community; we may also engage in socially useful tasks,” – she adds.

 

The cooperative employs six persons, including three who used to be unemployed for long periods of time and two whose disability has been officially confirmed. It is one of the statutory requirements laid down for social cooperatives – at least 50% of members need to be recruited form amongst the people at risk of social exclusion.

 

Promocjone.com is managed by Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka and Marcin Szkolnicki. “We want to reinvent the social cooperative movement.   We would like the inhabitants of Barlinek to feel that they are a living community and take a proactive attitude to local undertakings. One needs to believe that a lot can be done,” explains Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka. The services of promocjone.com are targeted at social cooperatives, associations, cooperative banks, local government units, small and micro-sized enterprises. In addition, apart from the business, the cooperative is committed to social initiatives for the benefit of local entities and institutions - it gratuitously assists with preparing business plans, subsidy applications and promotional materials. 

 

This local patriotism however does not constitute the sole reason why promocjone.com conducts business in Barlinek. Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka believes that in the time of the internet and fast information exchange one can work with companies from all over Poland and across the border, even if the registered office is located in a rural area. Currently promocjone.com is serving clients form Szczecin, Gorzów, Goleniowo and Stargard.

 

Promocjone.com specializes in marketing and PR.  It offers a full scope of communication strategies and advertising campaigns, inter alia graphic design, digital printing, radio and TV commercials, large format advertising, promotional films and gadgets (such as T-shirts and posters for sale). The company is also active online:  it provides services in the area of website design, positioning and website controlling and it runs social media profiles.  It is involved in constructing visual identification systems (creation of logos and work on its use), and writes promotional articles as well as other kinds of press releases.

 

“Our plan is to offer services to those segments of the market that are not served by specialized agencies due to high service costs.   Such companies and institutions are often unable to promote their services and products skilfully. We help them all, sometimes for next to nothing.  We do not discriminate and accept even the most trivial orders, working on the assumption that it is a business card today, but tomorrow it may turn into a website, a publicity strategy or a campaign. We want to show others that besides business, one can be actively engaged in social activities; joy can be derived from profits, but just as well from the help given to others,” says Agnieszka Nowicka-Szyszka.

 

AK