Squeaky clean and green too

Brigid Hardy wants to do her best in New Zealand before looking abroad. Picture / Greg Bowker

With its pick-up-line labels and award-winning packaging, BEE environmentally friendly cleaning products are soliciting smiles from supermarket shoppers around the country.

"Let me do your dishes" and "I care about you baby" are some of the statements on BEE's "talking bottles" injecting a sparkle into the eco-products market.

And that's exactly what the general manager of the young Auckland business, Brigid Hardy, wanted.

"How can green cleaning products not be irresistible when they talk right to you and with such gorgeously provocative lines?"

She counts herself among the many who may have perceived environmentally friendly products as low-performers and "a bit drab" in the past.

Since entering the market a year ago, it has been her goal to turn that around by making eco products "sexy and cool".

BEE's dishwashing liquid, multi-surface cleaner, delicate fabric wash and whitener are the only products on the local market with Environmental Choice certification.

"That's the toughest global eco-standard and it's endorsed by the New Zealand Government," says Hardy.

In this country's highly competitive $300 million cleaning product market, Hardy knew no one would buy the range unless they were nicer to use in every way.

She drew from an extensive range of experts including chemists, formulators, dermatologists and a French perfumer to create products that were gentle on the skin and the environment.

Effort was also put into the smell, feel and performance of the products, which are perfumed with essential oils and use natural ingredients such as coconut palm oil, kawakawa from the East Cape and orange oil.

Stylish design was a top priority from the start and the contemporary translucent bottles with bold lettering won an award at the prestigious British Design Week Awards in March last year.

BEE stands for Beauty Engineered for Ever, which Hardy says brings together these three strands of the brand: design (beauty), technology (engineered) and sustainability (forever).

"Why not have it all? We don't have to compromise on beauty and performance." Hardy, who specialised in human rights law at Harvard Law School and has worked as a legal secretary for Sir Douglas Graham, said a crusade-like attitude underlaid the business.

"I've always been motivated by the idea we've got to be able to change the world. Businesses have to make a difference, otherwise we will not survive."

These views got her thinking about the business three years ago, first from an intellectual point of view as a pure business case.

"I didn't want to be a 'cleaning lady' but I got more and more into it as I pulled the plan together, and it began to look workable."

Knowing it would take cash to get off the ground, she sold the concept to a group of investors she describes as successful Kiwi business people.

"I was the save-the-world-dreamer, but I knew they had the money."

Hardy's experience working as a consultant at McKinsey helped her present the investment case that convinced them to go head-to-head with the multinationals dominating the cleaning industry.

They agreed to put the money in if Hardy was willing to do it.

Sales have grown monthly since the launch and research shows BEE is the country's top-selling environmental cleaner.

It is stocked in 150 supermarkets nationwide and about 50 organic stores.

The slightly irreverent names change periodically to keep the products fresh. They are created by playing around on a whiteboard and asking, "What would the product say if it talked to you?"

Other lines on the bottles have included, "I love your top", "I feel good on your hands", "I promise I'll be gentle", "I'll give you some sparkle" and "I'm great all over the house".

Although the products have generated interest overseas, Hardy wants to ensure she's doing the best job here first, optimising local distribution before looking offshore.

Three new products are in the pipeline and Hardy wants to take them with her when they do make the move.

Her project is highly ambitious and she is still surprised her new role is such a far cry from working on human rights legislation or domestic violence policy.

"But I think it's worth it, otherwise I'm just talking hot air," she says, referring to "abstract talk" about changing the world.

Her BEE products are speaking for her as they reach into thousands of homes across the nation.

BEE-all and end-all 

* Brigid Hardy launched BEE's eco-friendly cleaning products one year ago.

* Their innovative "talking bottles" reflect her goal to make "green" products "sexy and cool".

* BEE stands for Beauty Engineered for Ever.

* The Freemans Bay-based business has five staff.

QuoteBox1: What would the product say if

it talked to you? Brigid Hardy

www.beautyengineeredforever.com