Is the media industry doing all it can to engage in a green future…
Simon Rees, founder of Digital Planet, looks at what the media industry can do to support a more sustainable future …
In recent years the need to move towards a more sustainable, low carbon future has taken increasing priority at the top of our politicians’, our, and our clients’ agendas. Across the worlds of business, stronger political will, entrepreneurs, NGOs and powerful activist bodies, people are collaborating as never before to tackle this hugely important subject. Out of this collaboration are emerging new ideas, models and ways of thinking; our challenge now is how to move them into reality so that they can become culturally and economically normal.
As an industry, I believe that we are exceptionally well placed to help with this transition. The forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP-15) is focusing global minds on reaching an agreement about climate change emissions, and I think this proves a great backdrop for a debate about the role our industry has to play in this movement.
Moving towards a more sustainable society is not just about reduction and targets; it’s also about taking exciting new ideas and models, and making them the cultural norm.
It’s a formidable challenge, but what do we as an industry do best? As experts in communications and helping to change behaviour through the well-honed art of persuasion, our creative and strategic expertise has a powerful role to play in helping move society towards a more sustainable future.
A fortnight ago Hopenhagen was launched, a movement generated by the International Advertising Association in the run up to COP-15, to represent the global advertising industry’s support of the United Nations. Hopenhagen’s aim is to create a global, grassroots community that is powerful enough to influence change and help achieve a climate agreement.
Led by Ogilvy & Mather, the campaign is targeting young people to become citizens of a Hopenhagen community, and already has support from a number of major organizations including Siemens, Coca Cola and SAP, and has further support from ‘Friends of Hopenhagen’ such as the Wall Street Journal, Advertising Week, JCDecaux, The Economist, ThomsonReuters, the FT and Reader’s Digest. I hope Hopenhagen will leverage the powerful potential of the communications industry to help raise awareness before – and also crucially after – the COP-15 Conference. But as an industry, our intent should be not just to raise awareness; it should also be to create lasting change.
So what can we do to be a driver of this change as leaders in the communications industry? To date, a huge missing piece of the puzzle has been how to engage the masses in the behaviour change needed. With our heritage, I believe that is where we could make the most difference. So while donating media space to Hopenhagen is a great place to start, we also need to bring our expertise to the table with others leading their industries: the scientists, the policy makers, the big corporates, the NGOs and the social entrepreneurs.
Last week I went to an informal ‘green’ social event where I found interesting people from brands such as Virgin, Eurostar, and social entrepreneurs. As a refreshingly different event, it seemed everyone there shared the belief that one of the best things we can all do to move things forwards at the pace needed is to share our learning, learn to collaborate as best we can – and also celebrate the journey together occasionally…hence the social! There wasn’t a hair shirt in sight. Run by the Watering Hole (founded by former Campaign journalist, Jenny Poulter), its model of collaboration seemed a good one moving forwards in terms of getting diverse yet like-minded people together and sparking conversations around issues that are relevant to us all, just in different ways.
So alongside this external collaborative model, are you asking where the sustainability leadership is within in your organisation? Is it coming from you, or is there ‘someone in CSR dealing with that’? Do you need to find the sustainability champions in your company and empower them? Similarly, do you know what the challenges – and opportunities – of sustainability mean for your clients? With sustainability now a top table priority, we need to have an informed point of view on what it means for their business. As custodians of their brand in the eyes of consumers and citizens, I’d suggest that we need to be proactive, not reactive, in helping to shape that thinking…come on media!
What do you think? Click here to contact Simon