“As an industry we can go from seriously being part of the problem to leading the solution. We’re the final piece of the machine slotting into the climate movement, speeding up solutions. But we cannot be doing that whilst we’re also serving the destruction. We can’t do both. And that tension is growing every day.”

When we heard Solitaire’s Ted Talk, ‘Are ad agencies, PR firms and lobbyists destroying the climate?’ (which has almost 1.8million views), we were keen to pick her brains and share her wisdom.

“Everything is completely interconnected - we’re not separate from nature, we are nature.”

It’s fair to say that Gemma and I were on a bit of a downer on the day we interviewed Rob Harrison-Plastow - Co-Founder of Time Agency, writer, and author of work in progress and soon to be published, ‘How to Be Happy at the End of the World.’ As you’ll hear, by the end of our conversation with Rob, whilst we discussed some of the pretty harsh realities of climate change, the challenges of the social constructs we’ve been born into, the pain, anxiety, lack of control, sense of being hoodwinked and of course… the fear we face personally and collectively in increasingly difficult times - we came away from the conversation, empowered, uplifted, invigorated, and most definitely hopeful. And our hope is that you will too.

“If people are aware… they can make a conscious choice.” 

When enjoying a delicious chocolate treat, like most, it’s unlikely you’ve pondered where the cocoa comes from, whether farmers have been paid fairly, or whether production is fuelled by child labour and modern slavery. The reality is that 1.6M children are working illegally on chocolate farms in Africa - and a minimum of 30,000 are kept as modern slaves. Sobering statistics that broadly haven’t changed that much over decades, and even centuries.

The good news is, Tony’s Chocolonely exists to change this.

“If you didn’t have a marketing budget but you still had the same KPIs what would you do?”

We learn how the question… ‘Daddy is your job good for the environment?’ - led Paul to join the 8 week Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership course, where he met fellow marketer, Alexis Eyre. Determined to be part of the solution, rather than the problem, they recognised that marketing has a lot to add when it comes to behaviour change and using its skills, creativity and influence as a force for good. They also recognised that many of the traditional marketing tools and frameworks focus purely on commercial performance, and no consideration for environmental and societal performance - and so set out to bridge that vital gap with the development of their Sustainable Marketing Compass, a strategic framework that supports marketers step-by-step to reframe, rethink and reorientate marketing - driving creativity and innovation back into the heart of marketing.

Using the wisdom of the crowd to build a sustainability confidence score - with Adam Williams, Founder - Wherefrom

“If we chase perfection… we’ll lose.”

Amongst the 455 (and some) eco labels and sparkling greenwash, how’s a person to figure out which products and brands they can truly have confidence in when wanting to make more sustainable and ethical choices in their shopping trolleys? What can we trust? What can we understand?

Sustainable Media - Investing in content and channels that support greener, healthier, fairer education and behaviour.

‘Advertising and marketing has an important role to play in doing good in the world.’ Agree? Well we certainly do – and in this episode, Guy Jones and Ollie - co-founders of The Goodnet, a sustainable media organisation, share their story, of how a pre-Christmas zoom drink sparked them moving away from their roles at one of the largest UK media organisations. Following their passion and values led the way to them championing sustainable media - making video ads / display ads / branded content partnerships available to advertisers across a network of sites that all operate in the sustainability space, to inspire and educate.

“The fastest accelerator in FMCG is the shopper… “

We loved this conversation with Helen Hepworth, Director of Collective Stories – a - Category Management and Shopper Insight Consultancy.

Helen’s been an FMCG expert for many years, working with a number of retailers, with a passion for product and category management. In this conversation we discuss the role shoppers and retailers play in driving positive impact when it comes to sustainability – and of course, the role marketing plays.

“Education comes first, knowledge sparks the curiosity to change lifestyle - but what comes next? What as an individual can I do? “

When it comes to your own personal carbon impact - do you ‘know your number’? ‘Know your number’ is the mantra from the team at Giki - and in this podcast we speak to Richard Campbell, Marketing Director at Giki.

We learn about Giki’s purpose, how it got started - and how as a a purpose driven organisation it helps people to be more sustainable at work and at home.

“Something always seems more achievable if someone else has done it.”

In this highly practical and engaging episode, we speak to Russ Avery, CEO of Avery & Brown, a sustainable marketing agency, supporting businesses on their purpose driven path, putting people and planet on par with profit.

When it comes to supporting businesses to be a practical force for good, Russ and team are very much walking the talk - showing and telling.