If you are one of the good eggs in an industry that has been tarnished by its cruelty to animals and complete lack of transparency, then showing off your ethical points of difference can be a powerful way to build your brand. The egg industry has been subject to immense criticism from campaigners and consumers for many years, with even free range and organic producers coming under scrutiny. If one supplier could show people how it is truly different from the rest, how much difference could it make to their business?

What can you learn from Clarence Court?
Everyone, both customers, stockists and employees, loves a genuine story based on real difference. There are enormous benefits to be gained by opening up your organisation and sharing the passions that drive you – by demonstrating the reasons why your brand is tangibly different. If you can find an unconventional way to do this, you’ll stand out even more. Get in touch for inspirational suggestions on how transparency can boost your brand.

Making welfare count
Not only has Clarence Court committed to transparent practices, they have literally opened themselves up to the world by installing a ‘Hen Cam’ (a webcam for birds) in their farmyard. By filming their traditional breed hens, Old Cotswold Legbar and Burford Browns, as they go about their everyday lives from dawn to dusk, consumers can rest assured that the eggs they eat come from thriving, happy animals. Clarence Court founder, Philip Lee-Woolf, says “I think that one of the highest things on people’s agendas at the moment, in terms of farm animals, is their welfare. There has been so much bad news about intensive farming and so on, so showing people that the hens are genuinely happy is really important.”

Feathered movie stars in the spotlight
The idea is that people can visit Clarence Court’s website and check out for themselves live footage of the poultry running around the farmyard. Harrods, one of Clarence Court’s retail outlets, even has a plasma screen next to the egg shelf with a permanent live feed from the ‘Hen Cam’. The footage is all from one spot in the yard, so it’s not possible to see the birds being fed, but we can see that they have lots of room to spread their wings and that they look happy running around, pecking in the soil and dust bathing.

A culture of open engagement
Philip recognises that business transparency has gained momentum in the last couple of years. Making Clarence Court a transparent business was a conscious decision right from the beginning, when the company was still small and Philip would bring the eggs around to the stockists himself. “I used to just get in the van, drive down to London and go to all the shops myself, delivering eggs and talking directly with customers”, he says. He used to explain that the hens are traditional breeds, how they differ from ‘normal’ birds, how they live and behave, why their eggs are different sizes and colours, and answer any questions that customers might have. Now the business has grown (40% year on year for ten years), he doesn’t have time to deliver the eggs himself anymore, so the ‘Hen Cam’ has taken over a little bit. Any customers with access to the internet – or Harrods – can check out how well the hens are being looked after whenever they like. But, Philip emphasises, he is never too busy to answer questions about Clarence Court’s hens and eggs, so customers can still just call up Clarence Court, email them or send a letter. “People, young and old, call and email us for information about Clarence Court and the chickens all the time”, Philip says. “You would be surprised, it’s amazing how interested people are and the amount of effort they will go to. They will sit at eleven o’clock at night and write a letter to us about eggs!” Philip also says that if customers would like to come and meet the hens at Clarence Court they are more than welcome.

Of course, transparency is not the sole reason for Clarence Court’s huge success. The distinctive, high quality eggs have a huge part to play too. But Philip is convinced that the customer engagement and positive media coverage that come from his transparent communication about the hens’ welfare is absolutely invaluable. And the fact that high quality food and local, responsible sourcing is fashionably ‘du jour’ obviously doesn’t harm Clarence Court’s business either.

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