Maximising the positive contribution
of the advertising industry to the world
“Commercial impact is usually measured by short-term profit and long-term growth prospects. Why not think about social value in the same way? The short-term question would be: what’s the well-being we can create for customers and employees? The longer term thing would be: to what extent are we increasing rather than destroying resources? You could think about it simply as micro/macro. I think we’ve always been instinctively interested in the micro bit… but we’re only just starting to think more about the macro.”
"It’s my strong belief that advertising can be a noble profession, and what we do is fundamentally of great value and good. It’s no longer good enough to say we merely reflect society – we should set ourselves a higher goal and realise a more progressive ambition."
“Unfortunately I think in our industry… we tend to follow more than we lead.”
“We would potentially make a huge contribution to the world if we could be thought leaders with our clients. One percent of leverage with some of the bigger businesses and broadcasters, is worth 100% leverage in our own right. So I think doing the right thing both means agencies becoming more responsible as businesses and (in my opinion more importantly), helping to shape an agenda for client companies and client base.”