Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Using our skills for good !!


I just read an article that Johanna at cellardoor wrote on creative altruism and how online is helping different organisations express this by involving people, making them feel apart of something big. Like changing the world....

It made me think of a speech I saw by the marketing director of Eurostar in UK about how we as an industry could utilise our skills to help drive important world issues. While writing at note to Jo, I realised that we could create an award at the top industry associations across the world for the agency or campaign that helped give back to the world. So there would be agency of the year, media agency of the year, then campaign that helped the greater good or agency that did the most to help the greater good.

What if an agency created another business model like RED. If you think about it, RED is a prime example of what we do daily. The thinking was a little like this.

Instead of just giving money away. Why dont we create a brand that links western culture's move toward expressing and helping key issues . Get a celebrity to endorse it. Make the brand powerful enough to stretch across products and services. Then use the money from the power of the brand, to give to an important cause. Sounds like a standard day in a brand related company to me.

Problem is we might have to do it for free..... But surely the attention in the industry and the strength of the idea, would add would show the skills of the agency and lead to more business.

2 comments:

Johanna Beyenbach said...

Again, thanks for the note (and link to my blog). very kind of you. I like the award idea. Maybe it could be a thing at Cannes. Or is that too limiting since that is mostly mass communications and not necessarily an altered business model, like RED is? hm. Will have to give this one a bit of a think. (PS I also like that you called me Jo, mid-entry!)

faris said...

Corporate Social Responsibility for agencies.

Like it.

Will think on it also.