"Brands with a conscience" may sound like an oxymoron, but bear with me.

This is the title the Medinge Group brand think-tank has given to a selection of organisations that seem to reach beyond the mediocre standards of too many brands these days. (I'm part of the group so partly responsible for this listing).

Here are the brands that have been given this accolade for 2005, with a quick bio lifted from the Medinge press release.

Dilmah Teas Headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A genuine charitable model has founder Merrill J. Fernando leaving all his money to a foundation governed by a group of trustees and dedicated to serving those most in need. A culture of helping community and workers is a cornerstone of the business philosophy.

Flexcar Founded in 1999 as a public/private partnership supported by King County, Washington and the City of Seattle, Flexcar provides members with access to a fleet of more than 300 vehicles located throughout major metropolitan areas. It is now the nation's oldest and largest car-sharing company, operating in over 20 cities. A nationwide membership of 20,000 subscribe to the program which reduces, air pollution and energy consumption, and encourages use of public transit as it contributes to sustainable communities.

GrameenPhone GrameenPhone is the largest telecommunications operator in Bangladesh with some 2.1 million subscribers (October 2004), over 90% of subscribers using mobile to mobile services. The company has worked to improve the infrastructure of Bangladesh both in terms of social construction projects and also through helping UNICEF in the development of primary education. However, it is the Village Phone Program which has been most significant, originaed in 1997 by Grameen Telecom and Grameen Bank, which is a micro-credit lending institution. The success of Village Phone has served as a template for developing countries in Africa.

John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership is not a Limited Company. It is a partnership among 60,000 employees who are far more involved in decision making and benefit sharing than other organisations in the same markets. The company, a major retailer in the UK, has department stores operating under the value proposition of ‘Never Knowlingly Undersold’ as well as a second sub-brand named the Waitrose grocery retail chain. The partnership’s constitution says that they ‘…must take all reasonable steps to minimise any detrimental effect our operations may have on the environment, and to promote good environmental practice.'

Paolo Soleri/Arcosanti Arcosanti is a prototype community in Arizona, just north of Phoenix, founded in 1970 by Paolo Soleri. It posits a broadly-based solution to environmentally appropriate living, encompassing frugality, miniaturization, population growth, efficiency, urban evolution, pollution, conservation, transportation, net energy utilization, social interchange, privacy, food production, preservation of natural habitats, aesthetics, affordable housing, global warming, ultimate recycling, education and world awareness. The community is supported by Soleri’s consulting, a bakery, manufacture and sale of unique metal bells and ceramics, and a performing arts center.

ROMP ROMP is a growing UK fashion label laying bare its entire value-chain, sharing ethical responsibility with its customers. “We actively seek to make elegant clothes beautifully and thereby to enhance and then protect the values of good animal husbandry, environmental respect, and civilised labour law. We wish to reward at source... to open up our systems of production to full traceability so that no practice is hidden from our customers...” By deconstructing every business process, ROMP achieved the first Soil Association certification for Organic Leather, at the same time redefining ‘Organic’ as being about selfless enactment of change in the world.

Semco is really the story of Ricardo Semler, who inherited control of his family’s Brazil-based business, and set about changing every element of the operation to incorporate worker participation. His recent book, Maverick, describes how he shared all information, including all salaries, enabled employees to choose their own wages and bosses, set their own hours, even choose their own IT. He eliminated the role of CEO, and made other innovations. For nearly 25 years, Sr. Semler’s leadership has generated increased productivity, long-term loyalty and phenomenal growth.

Working Assets Working Assets was established in 1985 to help people make a difference through everyday activities like talking on the phone. When customers use one of Working Assets' donation-linked services (Long Distance, Wireless, Credit Card or Online), the company donates a portion of the customer's bill to nonprofit groups. The objective is to build a world that is more just, humane, and environmentally sustainable. In 2003 over $3 million was donated after evaluating hundreds of nominees.

Of course, these lists are fraught with problems and I don't expect everyone to agree with who's included and who isn't. But I like the diversity of the organisations; I'm a little tired of the America-centric nature of most brand discussions. And it's no co-incidence either that this list is not dominated by stock market giants.

In fact, I think far too little attention is given to successful brands outside the conventional stock-market sector. So that's one up to Medinge, if I say so myself.