The conscious brand is the future

We've gone from ‘save the whales' to ‘save our planet' in a short space of time. We've been told most of our household cleaning products and the ingredients in much of our processed food are giving us cancer, and that our rampant consumerism is to blame for everything else. So where does this leave our industry?

What was most interesting about Affinity Publishing's Brands & Branding for Good conference at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand last week (20 - 21 October 2009), was that the best presentations came from the advertising agencies. The saddest thing was that, once again, Government representation was nil.

It would have seemed incongruent just a couple of years ago, to have our ad agencies as part of any sustainability movement - being capitalism's henchmen - but as Net#work's Mike Schalit pointed out, the creative and ideas capital reside in agencies, and good ideas breed solutions. Let's also be quite frank: if pressure is being put on brands by their consumers to demonstrate corporate social responsibility, then the image portrayed by those brands has to reflect that. And so, the advertising message has to change.

Keynote speaker Seth Farbman, worldwide MD Ogilvy & Mather, New York and president of OgilvyEarth, was brilliant. He calls the shift in agencies from being drivers of consumption to being focused on ‘mission-based marketing'.

We need to understand firstly, what ‘doing good' means, he says. It's not the charity model but a sustainability model driven by partnerships that brands need to focus on (for example, give a man money on the street corner: keep him on that street corner; teach a man to fish: give him a living...).

He says ‘good' is about making decisions like we give a damn. The fact is that the resources of the world are under pressure and at OgilvyEarth they are applying their knowledge of branding and sustainability to give corporations the tools to lead in the new world order. This is critical, given research that shows that only 1% of people actually trust corporations and feel that corporations should be doing more to safeguard the planet.

It all comes down to AUTHENTICITY, says Farbman: "Don't just be good; use the opportunity to do good."

There's a critical date coming up that everyone needs to take note of: the Copenhagen summit on 7 December 2009, when world leaders from 192 countries meet to discuss climate control. The Copenhagen agreement will replace the Kyoto Protocol that failed dismally in doing enough to curb global carbon emissions, believed to be responsible for global warming and the destructive impact on the world's resources.

OgilvyEarth decided on a campaign around ‘Copenhagen' to raise awareness, with a message of hope: ‘Hopenhagen'. A massive social media campaign is underway to pressure world leaders to do the right thing. You can do your bit by signing petitions and posting your ideas for the planet's sustainability at Hopenhagen.org; on Facebook; MySpace and Twitter (@Hopenhagen) - just search ‘Hopenhagen'.

Schalit has a great idea to bring New York's ‘million' project to South Africa (the idea was born in an agency, Droga5, to do something about the education crisis in New York's public schools). He believes it could have the same effect here on encouraging good grades and school attendance at schools among marginalised youth.

The campaign consists of a new device, part mobile phone (after hours) and part computer (during school hours) which is being handed out to a million schoolkids in New York City. Kids get airtime and music rewards for showing up at school, participating in school projects and achieving good marks. The positive uptake has been staggering to date after rollout started in early 2009.

It is an inescapable fact that all of us - individuals, brands, businesses - need to get involved to ensure that all we do has a positive impact on our communities and our environment. Take note of these industry sectors which are in serious trouble, or will be soon, for not doing more to lessen their carbon footprint, or listening to their consumers to produce safer products - many will also face Government regulation (according to Leslie Pascaud, director: responsible marketing practice, Added Value, Paris, who spoke on day two of the conference):

1. Bottled water - use of plastics, impinge on water resources.
2. Airline industry - carbon emissions.
3. Beef industry - hugely carbon intensive (new research: it has a bigger carbon footprint than the transportation industry). There was a comment I saw somewhere recently that says a meat-eater driving a Prius has a higher carbon footprint than a vegan driving a Hummer!
4. Resort complexes: obscene waste of water. Some golf courses are, however, acknowledged as becoming super smart in their recycling of water and wetland protection.
5. Ready-to-eat-food business: unhealthy, too many additives.
6. Anti-stick pans: ingredients in Teflon are apparently dangerous. Other industries with chemicals in them that are endocrine inhibitors will also be targeted.
7. Dirty coal power plants - will be increasingly taxed for carbon emissions (SA is a key culprit here, already contributing 50% of Africa's entire CO2 emissions.)

I sincerely hope that Ken Preston from Affinity Publishing will host another Brands & Branding for Good conference next year, because there are still so many questions on this topic that need to be explored. Despite the two hours plus it took in the traffic - each way, each day - to navigate the new spaghetti junction under construction at Allandale Road in Midrand for 2010, the conference was certainly worth it for the speakers who inspired us and showed us how to build new brand models with heart.

And for those of you plugged directly into this century, Kate Wolters from Added Value and I were tweeting from the conference using hashtag #BB4G on Twitter. And to punt my magazine, AdVantage, this year we added a monthly CSI column to highlight the good brands are doing, with a larger focus on CSI in an October issue feature. In our November issue, we have profiled one of the top NGOs which is working with brands to distribute and raise funds for sustainable projects.

As Farbman says: "We are all connected. The key is finding partnerships that resonate... give partners the tools and let them infect communities."