Meet Minc + Circular Monday

Today it’s Circular Monday! For the fourth year, this initiative highlights circular businesses, as an alternative to Black Friday. Consume smart. The former initiative White Monday was founded here at Minc back in 2017 by our Head of Communications Sofie and her former colleague who was in the Incubator program. We asked her some questions to learn more about her and the initiative.

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Sofie! What do you like the most within communications?
Hard question to answer, cause there are so many cool things. I do love connecting with people and finding out what makes them "tick". I guess that is what brought me into the field of communications to begin with. I usually say that 70% of my job is to listen, and I do think we, as a society, are quite bad at that in general. Today, digital communication is so broad and you can achieve amazing things by just reaching out with a simple social media post. So to listen in, finding out what makes good communication within a project or company and deliver that - that is what makes me tick.

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You’ve been working in the house before when founded White Monday, the former Circular Monday. Please tell us about it!
So White Monday, the original concept, was created by myself and my former colleague when we were working at a startup in the Minc Incubator program back in 2017. We were working within the field of circular economy at an e-commerce repairing clothes, and both of us were tired of the hype to consume that Black Friday creates. So two weeks before Black Friday, we got the idea and started planning the PR-campaign that it originally was. One week later we had 30 companies onboard on the webpage created, a promotion video and a voice, ready to spread the word about circular economy. With a budget of 150SEK, the hashtag #whitemonday ended up with the exposition of 6 million. It is probably the best PR-campaign I’ve done, and it would never have been as great if it wasn’t for social media.

Today, Circular Monday is running worldwide by different organizations, and with close to 500 companies onboard. It’s never been about not consuming, it’s all about consuming smart and sustainable. I'm haven't been part of running the initiative after that first year of creating WM, but I will try my best to live by that.

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It’s been some years since White Monday was founded, what do you think about sustainability today?
Well, I would lie if I said that I am living 100% sustainable. But I do my best, and try to influence my surroundings to do the same.

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Do you have any tips for resisting all the tempting offers this week?
Firstly you should check out offers at https://www.circularmonday.com/. Can you rent, repair or reuse? Do that before buying new.

But if you do feel the urge to shop away on Black Friday, I recommend creating a list with the everyday-things you would buy even if there was no sale. Then stick to the list throughout Singles day, Cyber days and Black Friday. Always go back to the list. And if you find yourself putting something else in your shopping basket, you probably don’t need it.

About Minc

At Minc, we believe in creating something bigger than yourself. We offer everything an entrepreneur needs to go from concept to market in-house. Our international network of advisors and award-winning programs will help your startup scale faster and smarter. Welcome to the startup house of Malmö.

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