“Well, the fundamentals are that we believe creativity drives awareness in a far stronger way than any other approach you can use.” – Terry Savage, Chairman of the Cannes Lions
The Sustainable Development Goals have excited the creative industry – fierce rivals in marketing and communications have found common ground to tackle the world’s biggest challenges. Because of the broad range of issues and necessary advancements touched upon by these 17 Global Goals, every brand, agency, and creative can weave purpose into their narrative and directly influence their consumers, regardless of their product or solution. The creative industry has the ability to widen perspectives and speak to the hearts and minds of the people, positively altering consumer behavior related to each goal. Purpose-driven campaigns, creative expressions, and recognized influencers has the unlimited potential to inspire action and progress towards advancing a better world. The Sustainable Development Goals Lions have been introduced to celebrate examples of successful implementation of this potential.
In this episode, Global GoalsCast will explore the stories behind the partnerships that have resulted in some surprising changes in consumer behaviour.
In preparation for the festival and the historic, inaugural year of the Sustainable Development Goals Lion Awards, this episode of Global GoalsCast to further examine how the SDG Lion Awards and initiatives by creative forces, such as SAWA, are increasing attention on the Global Goals. Partnerships forged for good are partnerships that create positive change and are key to advancing the SDGs, humanizing all people, and generating positive impact on a global scale. We all have a role to play in building a better world by 2030.
Featured guests
David Griner is Adweek magazine’s Creativity and Innovation Editor. He has been covering the advertising world for more than a decade and previously spent eight years working in the creative department of an ad agency. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and is the host of Adweek’s weekly podcast, “Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad.”
Terry Savage is Chairman of Cannes Lions, the world’s leading celebration of creativity in communications. Prior to his appointment in 2003 as CEO of Cannes Lions, Terry Savage, an Australian national, was Executive Chairman of the global cinema advertising company Val Morgan, in Australia. Under his leadership, Val Morgan expanded from Australia into New Zealand, USA, South America, Middle East and Asia. During this time he was also President of the International advertising trade body SAWA (Screen Advertising World Association). Terry was the Australian representative for Cannes Lions for 15 years and during this period, promoted Australian creativity at the international event.
Nicolle is a One Young World ambassador and a co-founder of the Palau Legacy Project, which created and launched the award-winning Palau Pledge campaign in December 2017. She specializes in marketing & communications and has a passion for creating campaigns for social good. Prior to her time in Palau, Nicolle worked in advertising at Arnold Worldwide. She currently lives in Boston with her husband and young daughter, and she works as Marketing Director for the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Health at the New England Aquarium.
Cheryl Wannell joined SAWA in 2003 when she relocated to London and in 2006 returned to Australia and now runs the Secretariat from the Sydney. In 2004 she became General Manager and subsequently in 2017 became CEO and is responsible for running the Global Trade body. Previously, Cheryl worked for 20 years with Val Morgan Cinema Advertising based in Australia and was at the time of relocating to London was Managing Director Worldwide. Her background is in Marketing, Sales and Business Management. In 2015, SAWA and the global cinema advertising companies launched the first ever Global Cinema ad and as a medium became a supporter to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals to the core global cinema audiences of millennials and Generation Z. Cheryl drives this initiative as part of her role at SAWA.
Ms. Amina J. Mohammed of Nigeria is the current Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, she was Minister of Environment of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from November 2015 to December 2016, where she steered the country’s efforts on climate action, protecting the natural environment and conserving resources for sustainable development. Prior to this, she served as Special Adviser to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Post-2015 Development Planning, where she was instrumental in bringing about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals.
Transcript
[00:00] Terry Savage Well, the fundamentals are that we believe creativity drives awareness in a far stronger way than any other approach you can use.
[00:10] Misc One day a giant came to visit our home…
[00:14] Nicolle why can’t we take the same practices that caused behavior change from a business perspective and apply that to environmental activism or an environmental campaign…
[00:24] Announcer The United Nations has launched a plan to fight poverty, injustice, and climate change…
[00:36] Edie Lush: Welcome to the Global GoalsCast
[00:39] Claudia Romo Edelman: The Podcast that explores if we can change the world
[00:42] Edie Lush: We want to inspire you to join us. I’m Edie Lush
[00:46] Claudia Romo Edelman: … and I’m Claudia Romo Edelman
[00:50] Credit Thank to HARMAN, the official sound of Global GoalsCast
[00:57] Edie Lush: this episode is about creativity for good– why it’s so important that the skillsets of the creative industry and honed to solve the most challenges issues of our time, and why it matters so much to win the hearts and minds of people in order to make a difference.
[01:12] Claudia Romo Edelman: We want to shine the light on major campaigns happening around the Sustainable Development Goals. We want to show that there is a market for good stories as more consumers are buying with their beliefs. We want to make the case for more brands and marketers to get involved in making a difference. So this episode, we will cover a number of very interesting cases. I will be telling you about how we’re launching a major new awards initiative at Cannes called ‘The SDG Lion Awards’.
[01:43] Edie Lush:: And we’ll be talking about how the seeds of some really exciting projects were actually sewn in Cannes, among them “Common Ground” – an unprecedented commitment by the marketing and communications industry to put aside their usual fierce rivalry in order to support the Sustainable Development Goals.
[02:00] Claudia Romo Edelman:: We will take an example of how the creative industry, combined with some enterprising people from the archipelago of Palau, have worked together to create a groundbreaking pledge that everyone visiting the country now has to sign.
[02:16] Edie Lush:: It’s a promise that all tourists have to make, right?
[02:19] Claudia Romo Edelman:: A promise to be good environmental stewards for the duration of your stay. We will hear more about that later.
[02:27] Edie Lush:: Also today on the Global GoalsCast, we have an creative industry insider, David Griner, he joins us from New York. He’s the Creative and Innovation Editor of Adweek. He’s a busy guy and part of his role is to overseeing Adweek’s very popular podcast “Yeah that’s probably an ad.”
[02:45] DG: Very happy to be here!
[02:46] Claudia Romo Edelman: : I like the title of your podcast – “Yeah, that’s probably an ad” it implies for me that advertisers are getting smarter about how they put their messages across …. David, in this podcast we always give away interesting pieces of data to show off with your mother in law and some ACTIONS that you can take.
[03:03] DG: Yeah, I love that, bringing practicality to some of this is really important cause this is, these are big goals, as I’m sure you talk about on each episode and it’s really important to show people how these things come to life in the real world.
[03:16] Edie Lush: So we’re going to come back to you in just a minute, David, cause I know that you are also going to be in Cannes. But first of all, Claudia, the Cannes Lions advertising festival, you’ve been a regular delegate there, tell me a bit about it.
[03:29] Claudia Romo Edelman:: The advertisement festival has been going on forever, 50 years, but over the last 5-7 years I think change improved dramatically, and the industry itself, I mean it’s reflecting what the industry itself has changed about. So, when I started going, it was a little bit like the series ‘Mad Men’ where I could see all the agency people and getting the creatives from there, and then all of the sudden, BAM, you have creative created by countries, like Mexico, or by technology companies, like Facebook and Instagram, they are competing for the same pot. So, it shows that creativity somehow belongs to everybody, particularly because technology has allowed us to have access to new tools that make more people creative. But there is one thing that is clear to me, if you are a creative, the Cannes Lion is the Oscar prize that you want to win in your lifetime.
[04:26] Edie Lush: So why is it called Cannes Lion?
[04:49] Claudia Romo Edelman:: Well, the first festival took place in Venice and the awards took their name from the lion of the piazza de San Marco. It then alternated between Venice and Cannes until 1984 when it finally settled in Cannes.
[04:43] Edie Lush:: It’s now huge, right?
[04:45] Claudia Romo Edelman:: It is. It’s five days of discussions, arguments, laughter, tears with some of the most creative people around. But mostly, it’s about the competition between the best creative pieces in the world. This year, there will be over 1600 delegates from industry superstars to musicians, actresses, formerly the Smiths, CEO of Youtube, etc
[05:12] Edie Lush:: And this is an important year for you as well, Claudia, right?
[05:16] Claudia Romo Edelman: This is the most important Cannes Lion Awards that I probably will witness ever. This is the time in which the SDG Lion Awards will be launched and created for the first time.
[05:27] Edie Lush:: Claudia, remind our listeners what’s behind the Sustainable Development Goals and why we have them.
[05:32] Claudia Romo Edelman:: The Sustainable Development Goals, or Global Goals, as we call them, are the masterplan for the people and its planet It is 17 goals ratified by more than 193 countries after 5 years of negotiation. There is no plan B but there is no planet B either! And this is the time to act. We are the first generation that can eradicate extreme poverty for the world. We are the last generation that can stop the impact of climate change. And this is the first time in history that we can elevate the playing field for all. But in order to make the Sustainable Development Goals happen, everybody needs to play a role and get involved. And that is why creativity and communication is so critical to penetrate the zeitgeist of the people.
So here is Terry Savage, or Savage, who is the Chairman of the Cannes Lions telling me about the important role that creativity plays in spreading the word about the goals.
[06:38] TS: The fundamentals are that we believe creativity drives awareness in a far stronger way than any other approach you can use. In terms of the Sustainable Development Goals, what we have done, we have created a category that will award—by goal—a lion, and in that way we’ll enable people to focus very specifically on entering the awards, this particular category, by specific goals. So we’ll have a climate change lion. Will have a hunger lion. And that will give a lot of focus to people to create work that is very creative, to create a greater awareness level.
[07:23] Edie Lush: Terry Savage from the Cannes Lions there. Claudia, You were part of the the driving force that created these awards. Why did you think they were so important to create?
[07:31] Claudia Romo Edelman: There are so many reasons, Edie. First of all, because we do have this historic master plan and It is a great framework. And it’s a great framework for governments and for you know like industry, but you know also for the advertisement industry or a festival like Cannes. So when I was part of the announcement of Common Ground, I went to talk to the organizers and I said, Listen, this is a great framework, we should use it to organize your creative industries that are related to purpose, social causes, and I think that by doing that, you not only are oging to have some framework and some structure to put education to compete with education entries and the girls to girls, as opposed to girls compared to toothpaste or so on. But at the same time, it is an incredible incentive for the industry to have an award that ideally incentivizes them to create more of those type of entries.
The data is very clear The 2017 Edelman Brand Study shows that 60% of Millennials buy with their beliefs. This isn’t just in the US where 47% of consumers are belief driven, its actually higher in China (73%) and India (65%) consumers. Consumers want brands to speak up and have a position
[08:31] Edie Lush: So, David, you have been watching this industry for awhile, how do you think the SDG Awards fit into the wider advertising industry and what impact do you think they are going to have?
[08:40] DAVID: Well, as Claudia said, these are the Oscars of advertising. To win one of these is basically the highest honor you can hope to get if you’re in advertising. And so, when they add a new award, and Cannes certainly has added different Lions over the years, you know Creative Data and you know these ones, but those aren’t quite as exciting as when they create one like the Titanium Lions that recognize emerging types of marketing that doesn’t quite fit into any category. And then most notably, the Glass Lion, which are specifically for campaigns and ideas that help empower women. And those Glass Lions really elevated the discussion of gender balance and equality and empowerment. The impact was very noticeable and very immediate. And now you’ve seen campaigns like fearless girl go on to win Glass Lions and become these big international discussion points. Creating this award, it’s not something Cannes does lightly and it will bring a lot of spotlight to some really great initiatives.
[09:36] Edie Lush: So in case people haven’t heard of the fearless girl, it is a statue, right? Of a girl in her power pose.
[09:43] DAVID: Yeah, she was placed on international Women’s Day about a year ago facing down the charging bull, the famous charging bull of Wall Street.
[09:50] Edie Lush: Just so I can be clear, cause I’m not the expert here, are you guys both arguing that this could make the industry, and by industry we mean technology companies, we mean countries, we mean advertising agencies, creative companies in general, get more involved into purpose-driven campaigns?
[10:07] DG I believe it can. I think anything you do that basically says there is value in doing marketing for good, because there are, to be honest very limited opportunities for advertisers to be awarded for that. There is a lot of debate within the ad industry about how many pro bono, how many nonprofit, how many causes you should be embracing because we are here to help clients, we are here to make money. And you know, Cannes has traditionally only given one grand prie, it’s their biggest award, the biggest thing you can win at Cannes is the Grand Prix, and they give it out quite a few of them, but thye only give out one to work for nonprofits or for causes. And so that has been a real limitation in my mind. But the whole point of that is that they want to say ‘Oh, cause marketing is easy, anybody can do cause marketing that powerful. Doing work for a carpet company or a toothpaste, that’s hard!’ And I disagree with that fundamentally and I think that this is a good turn of events to create more opportunities to show that initiatives that accomplish this kind of greater good, that they should be celebrated and that they can be celebrated at festivals like Cannes.
[11:13] Edie Lush: OK so now we’re going to turn to a story, born at Cannes, and it’s led to the normally fiercely competitive advertising agencies working together for the common good. Claudia, tell me about Common Ground.
[11:25] Claudia Romo Edelman: I love Common Ground and it was really, for me, one of the key things that I saw happening as a result of the Sustainable Development Goals being born, which was that the 6 advertisement agencies that normally compete fiercely, as you just said, decided to start a dialogue and let’s put down our differences and for once create a campaign of the campaigns. Let’s create Common Ground and use the power that we have to advance the one goal that we have. And Common Ground was created and incentivized, by the industry, supported by the United Nations. I happened to be part of the Secretary-General’s office at that time. And I cannot tell you how important, how emotional I was when I was sitting in the audience of the Cannes Advertisement Festival in 2016, seeing the heads of the 6 advertisement agencies together with the Secretary-General where he said ‘ this ring that you see, this ring that has 17 colors that represent this is the logo of the Sustainable Development Goals, make it big, make it like a ring for the Olympics. Make it symbolize, if the Olympic ring symbolized the best of sport, make this ring of the SDGs symbolize the best of humanity.’ I still get chills.
This podcast is produced by the We Are All Human Foundation, an organization that aims to advance equity, inclusion, and representation in a world where divisive language is getting traction, where we are forgetting that we belong to the same human family, and where the sustainable development goals can never be achieved if we don’t recognize that we are simply one. That we are all human. Creativity matters in this sense because it is the one tool that is able to open the doors and open the hearts and the minds of the people regardless of where they are. We’re aiming to see a creative industry that is more inclusive, that brings more people that have not been able to have the chance to show their creativity to the world, of making the world a better place through communication. I am sure that festivals like the Cannes Advertisement Festival, will have increasing numbers and efforts to bring Hispanics, African-Americans, Africans, people from different regions around the world, to show what they can do the ideas that they have, be represented in festivals for creativity, particularly if it’s under the Sustainable Development Goals Lion Awards incentives.
[14:25] Edie Lush: You’re listening to the Global GoalsCast. Thank you for being with us. If you’ve joined us before you’ll know that in the first of our green miniseries we heard how remote islands are some of the first to be affected by climate change, caused by industrialisation on the other side of the world. But on the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau the problem is even more urgent. Palau is my idea of paradise, a beautiful island set in turquoise sea. But the sea level around its 700 islands has risen by about 9mm a year since 1993, almost three times the global average rate.
[15:03] Claudia Romo Edelman:: But Palau has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to conservation. In 2015, they created the world’s sixth largest marine sanctuary. And last year, they came up with an amazing idea. Picture the scene; you are about to land in Palau and an in-flight movie comes on…….
[15:27] CLIP One day, a giant came to visit our home. He stomped on our reefs, gobbled up our precious animals, took fruit from our gardens, even stuffed his pockets with turtle shells…
[15:50] Nicolle: The Palau pledge is a pledge that every visitor to Palau must take when they enter the country when they prior to leaving their country
[15:56] CLIP The children of Palau, I take this pledge as your guest, to preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home. I vow to tread lightly, act kindly, and explore mindfully.
[16:11] Nicolle: When they’re actually in the air, they’ll watch an in-flight video which briefs them about the Palau Pledge and then when they get to Palau they will sign the pledge as part of official immigration process for their entry into the country. And the Palau Pledge is a promise that they’re going to make to the children of Palau that they’ll do the right thing for the country for the sake of the children’s future.
[16:34] Edie Lush: Nicole Fagan there, part of the team that came up with the Palau Pledge campaign, and a One Young World Ambassador, one of our partners. I love that idea, and this more than just a clever promotional gimmick. It’s officially part of Palau’s immigration process, having the pledge itself stamped in your passport.
[16:53] CLIP I think it’s important we sign the Palau Pledge to preserve the environment and show our commitment so everyone knows about the fragility of the nature here / I hope my children can see the beautiful place one day as I see today / At first I was surprised to have to do it. It’s not something I’ve ever had to do in any other country before but it really does make you think about what actions you can do to help protect the environment. And I think it’s a great idea for other countries to follow / Especially in places like Palau where their livelihood their culture, pretty much the economy of the island depends on it. I personally feel that President Remengesau was doing a great thing by inventing this pledge.
[17:39] CLIP: Thomas Remengesau Jr The ocean is like a sick person. So we do have to partner in the challenge to not only restore the damages but really to prevent the environment from being further destroyed or damaged. And to do this we have to do a partnership with a tourist and visitors to Palau.
[17:58] Edie Lush: Some of Palau’s visitors and Palau’s president Thomas Remengesau talking about the pledge. Nicolle Fagan told me how living sustainably isn’t a new thing for Palauans.
[18:08] Nicolle They’re very aware of the issues facing their environment because they’re so dependent on it. As a tiny island nation, they rely on their natural resources so much from the fish to the land to everything in between. And they’re so acutely affected by climate change that they’ve really had to be sustainably minded, from when you know we weren’t thinking about sustainability Palauans have been living sustainably.
[18:34] Claudia Romo Edelman: But whilst Palauans themselves know the importance of taking care of their environment, tourists, which are so vital to the area’s economy, aren’t always so knowledgeable and can disrespect and harm the delicate natural and living ecosystem through ignorance. Nicolle here again…..
[18:53] Nicole And we’ve really looked at the core problem being a lack of education among our incoming tourists and if we could figure out how we could educate them then perhaps we could have an influence on how they behaved while they were here in Palau. We put together a brief and we started reaching out to our friends and we said we need help with this problem and we know that creatively we can solve it. And one of the friends that came back to us was the agency Havas Australia. The passport stamp was in early you know right away that was an early idea that we were excited about we were excited because they kind of nailed an opportunity that we hadn’t thought of as as our core group so we thought that this was just a really great partnership. We really believe in the power of an amazing idea. And while we know that of course the four of us could come up with great ideas, an agency like Havas that’s their bread and butter. That’s what they do. They come up with groundbreaking ideas. So you know while they might be traditionally used to sell more Jack Daniels why can’t we look at you know influencing behavior to prevent people from throwing their trash on the ground or stepping on coral. So we brought them in because we knew that they could bring to life these amazing ideas. And it’s a new approach for a country for Palao and people would be open to it because it’s kind of a new way of thinking about it.
[20:12] DG So I think what’s a great example about the Palau Pledge is that advertising effectiveness is often measured by, what they call, impressions, which is everytime one of us sees an ad, that’s called an impression. I’ve actually seen it. You could make the best idea in the world but if no one sees it, people are going to say ‘Aw well that just wasn’t really effective’. What’s different about this example is that everyone who needs to see it, sees it. You’re going to see it, you’re going to see the in-flight video that we heard, you’re going to see it on your flight in, you’re going to literally have the pledge stamped onto your passport into your visas and you’re going to have the sign it. And so that is the easiest ad campaign I’ve ever heard of to measure because everyone that comes in is going to see it. If more campaigns can think of ways to innovate where it’s not about how many ad dollars you put into promoting this thing in ads around the world, it’s about making it where it is integrated into what you do, and Palau has done a fantastic job of that. I think agencies are really going to take that lesson to heart.
[21:05] Edie Lush: and I love that kids play such an important role in this story.
[21:09] Nicole – We got the kids involved to help write the pledge. We’ve had kids involved at every step of the way. And as a Phase 2 of the project over the course of the next two years, we’re actually going to be taking the Palau Pledge and bringing it into the Palau curriculum in some way. We want to make sure that the plow pledge isn’t just something that is a campaign targeting tourists but it’s something that becomes ingrained in Palauian culture moving forward.
[21:36] CGE This is a perfect example of the importance of enabling children, young people and the larger community to participate and have a direct voice in the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, and laws that affect communities. Young people are the foundation for effective development, and if we engage them, they will improve many of the structural development challenges that we’re facing today.
[22:02] Edie Lush: So this is a brilliant campaign that by the way, our partner One Young World alerted us to, connects so well with the theme of our show. You have people in Palau, who have worked for generations to look after their island, but with a real need for new creative ideas that go beyond what they’ve already done.
[22:23] Now, from the small screen of an in-flight movie to the wide-screen of the movie theatr. SAWA may not be a name you are familiar with, but if you’ve been to the cinema there is a good chance you’ve seen their work.
[22:34] Claudia Romo Edelman: Yes, SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association, actually set up the Cannes Lion Festival over 60 years ago. Their main job is helping advertisers and agencies get their campaigns on to huge cinema screens. Now they are helping to make the Sustainable Development Goals famous by creating big budget cinema ads and get them everywhere. One of the most memorable call to actions on behalf of the UN and the goals was created by SAWA. Here’s SAWA’s Cheryl Wannell
[23:11]Cheryl Well SAWA brought John Hegarty to the table, and Richard Curtis, famous film director as I’ve said, worked together on the on the creative idea with Aardman Studios who are Wallace and Gromit fame, and they made this ad. We ran it in thirty five countries around the world. We reached 100 million people. But, in a retentive way, in an intrusive way. Not a passive way. And we then got Nielsen (the big research company out of New York) to do a case study, and we got incredible recall that, when we actually saw the results we actually didn’t believe it. We got one in three people recalled the ad “We Have A Plan” with all these animals set in the General Assembly in the United Nations, and one in three people recalled it after seeing it once, one week later on cinema. It’s almost unheard of recall which is amazing.
[24:10]CLIP We have a plan, the Global Goals for people and planet. To end poverty, to fight inequalities, and to defeat climate change. And I am proud to announce, the plan is agreed by everyone. The United Nations has launched a plan to fight poverty, injustice, and climate change. Tell everyone. Join us at Globalgoals.org.
[24:50]Claudia Romo Edelman: Overall for me, the big question is what would it take to see more creativity for good, to see more of those goals stamped into the creative briefs of every agency and everyone working in creativity? What would it take to have that incredible ring, the symbol of the best of humanity that is represented on the Global Goals seen on the back the cereal boxes and everywhere around the world? What would it take? How do we make the case for creativity for good?
[25:23]David I think the answer to your questions is the clients. That when agencies, they dedicate as much time as they can into efforts for nonprofits that maybe can’t pay that much or maybe can’t pay them anything, they give as much of their time as they honestly can to those projects and these awards, like at Cannes, give them a lot of publicity to help, but it doesn’t really pay the bills. You know this kind of work often is something they are doing out of passion. I think things will change when the clients, the brands, the global brands especially, really can buy into these and not just say, of course they are all going to say that they agree with the goals, but when they really get earnestly true about it, when you see those executives coming to Cannes and saying ‘I’m going to make a commitment, this amount of my budget is going to go towards supporting these goals.’ That’s when the agencies will breathe a sigh of relief and say ‘great! We will do even more and spend more of our time and we’ll put our best talent on it.’
[26:15] Claudia Romo Edelman: But clients will move with consumers, isn’t it? So it’s all about where you start the cycle because if consumers buy products that have a good heart and a good brand, even if they sometimes are more expensive, if they are green, if they are environmental or whatever, organic, where do you start?
[26:33]David We’ve seen time after time that there is data showing that there are consumers, especially millennial consumers and moving into Gen Z, that they really do appreciate when brands share their values and sometimes that gets political but often times it’s just showing that they have a commitment, and an earnest commitment, again not just a PR line of ‘yes, we love the planet and we want to help the planet’ but you’re actually doing something, you’re actually making a commitment. Those brands have proven to be more effective with their consumers and i think they are trying to find more agency partners who can help them grow even bigger in that space and do more good in the world.
[27:06] Edie Lush: So do you see a tipping point, cause we know that things change once the ship starts to turn, there’s sort of nothing that will stop it. Do you see things changing?
[27:18]David I think every year that I go to Cannes, and Claudia’s probably seen the same thing, is these initiatives, this kind of work, becomes a little less fringe and a little more on the main stage. I think the examples, she’s given of bringing together all the holding companies that own the vast majority of advertising agencies in the world and having them on one stage saying ‘We share a belief in this cause that cause’ those make a difference. I think over the years, we’ve really seen that these companies that are driven by profit and really are focused on the bottom line, that they are starting to spend more time thinking about the greater good. These tipping points they don’t happen in one year, it’s not like everyone says, you know overnight everyone just gets it but we see that these causes that when on the main stage at Cannes they say ‘Oh, this is what my clients want, this is what the people want, this is what my industry is doing, I’m going to do more of it, you know I’m going to be a leader in this space’ and i think we’re seeing more of that in the last few years.
[28:16] Claudia Romo Edelman: And I would like to conclude from this, that yes, we’re making progress, yes we’re in the right path, yes we celebrate the SDG Lion Awards and SAWA and Common Ground for trying, yes we celebrate the UN Agencies and everyone that is working on this field to try to open up and partner more and we want to celebrate brands and companies to look even more for their consumers that are growing into buying with their beliefs. Because if we continue working in this direction, we will make the change.
[28:49] Edie Lush: So we’re now at the point in the show where we give you some actions that you can go and take. Claudia, what’s the first one?
[28:56] Claudia Romo Edelman: Action #1: Palau Pledge – go and sign it at palaupledge.com. Anyone can sign to show their support.
[29:05] Edie Lush: Leonardo DiCaprio signed it, and in fact, I signed it the other day. So David, do you have an action that our listeners can take or a message to the industry?
[29:13]David I have a little of both. I would say if you’re just not in the advertising industry but you want to help encourage brands, to Claudia’s point, they listen to consumers. So if you haven’t taken the time to thank a brand, a company, that you think is doing something commendable, take the time on social media, especially just to send them a note saying ‘I really appreciate this’ because, believe it or not, you’d think they just get so many messages that they don’t see it but they see those and those messages do get back to the people that matter. I would say within the industry, I would encourage folks at the agency level to be proactive. Clients love it when agencies are proactive and bringing more information, new information to them, to help shaped their marketing efforts. I would say take the time to go over and introduce them to the Global Goals and make sure that they understand why this is important to your agency and why you think it’s important to brands and why you think it’s part of a larger movement within the industry. I think that kind of one presentation could end up yielding a lot of benefits over the long term.
[30:10]Claudia Romo Edelman: My third action for today is for the creative industry. Alright creative industry, badge your creative briefs. Stamp them with the logo of the SDGs. Add into it, if the client is not asking you to do anything related to the SDGs, try to find a way to badge your creative brief with the SDG lens.
[30:35]Edie We’ve got an extra action in this episode that comes from a collaboration between Common Ground, we talked about them earlier in the episode, and Google, inspired by the idea that exponential change can be made possible through repeating little actions by the largest generation on earth, Gen Z. The project invites participants to share their stories, actions, and changes on YouTube. Here’s Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammad, talking about Little X Little.
[31:02]AM Young people are part of the largest generation in history, 2 billion strong. Your passionate, connected, informed, and you care deeply about our world. Right now, our world needs action, for gender equality, for the environment, for decent job, secure communities, and so much more. We have a blueprint for a better world, the Sustainable Development Goals. Around the globe, young people are coming together to build a movement for success, they call it LIttle X Little. It’s based on a power notion. Yes, we face a number of big problems, but we can start fixing them through a lot of small actions. So listen up. You are one of 2 billion young people. If each one of you takes action, you will create a wave of change that this world has never ever seen. Join the mission. Be part of 2 billion acts for good. Because step by step, little by little, we will get to a better world. Together, let’s get the job done.
[32:05]Edie Amina Mohammed there talking about the COmmon Ground Google Campaign, Little x Little. Search for it on YouTube.
So now, we’re going to give you some data to take away that you can look really smart with your mother-in-law at Sunday lunch, 2017 Edelman Brand Study shows that 60% of Millennials worldwide say that they buy with their beliefs. They will buy your brand, buy more of it, switch from it, avoid it and at the extreme, boycott it over your stance on a controversial or social issue. This is now the new normal. This is why right after the incident in Philadelphia, where two African Americans were arrested in Starbucks for asking to use the bathroom, reacted so swiftly with a day of unconscious bias education.
[32:53] Claudia Romo Edelman: This isn’t just in the US where 47% of consumers are belief driven, its actually higher in China (73%) and India (65%) consumers.
The good news is that a lot of companies see this as an opportunity because they realize that consumers will use their brand as a statement of what that they personally care about.
Before we go, thank you, David, where can we listen to your podcast?
[33:20] David We our podcast for Ad Week is call ‘Yeah, that’s probably an ad’ it comes out every week, usually on Mondays, and you can find it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher, or Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts, same as you guys!
[33:32] Edie Lush: Thank you so much, David, for joining us.
[33:35] Claudia Romo Edelman: That was Edie Lush, and I am Claudia Romo Edelman. See you next time!