#ChangetheBrief

#ChangeTheBrief

By Rob McFaul, #ChangeTheBrief advisor at Mindshare & Co-Founder of Purpose Disruptors

Much of the focus on climate action has been on making sure our own house is in order, by making sure the industry is taking the necessary steps to reduce its operational footprint. #ChangeTheBrief asks agencies to look at the bigger responsibility they have for the work they put out in the world, and the opportunity this brings for the industry to be a driving force on the wider sustainability agenda.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made it clear that change needs to happen across all parts of society. Awareness is no longer the challenge. The issue is how we encourage the mass shifts in lifestyles that are required. Mainstream society needs to be ready and willing to change. By directing its creativity and power to promote sustainable lifestyles, attitudes, and behaviours, the advertising industry can make a significant impact on the climate crisis.

One response to how we achieve this is #ChangeTheBrief. Originally developed by Mindshare, #ChangeTheBrief promises the client two responses, whatever the brief. One response is a direct interpretation of the brief and the second an answer (not necessarily exhaustive, but directional) that is as commercially powerful but that also promotes the lifestyles, behaviours and attitudes consistent with a pathway to a 1.5 degree world.

No matter how big or small, any brief can help nudge the world in the right direction. #ChangeTheBrief is a platform for clients and agencies to act differently, through the most powerful means within the advertising industry’s control, by changing what clients ask for and how agencies answer them.

As the climate crisis is a ‘bigger than self’ problem, this is a unique opportunity for agencies to act as one, to become founding members of the #ChangeTheBrief Alliance, convened by The Purpose Disruptors.

Working together demonstrates the level of leadership that is required, where agencies transcend competition in order to instigate a transition to a thriving and sustainable world for the advertising industry, the clients they serve and wider society. The #ChangeTheBrief Alliance is an invitation to contribute to creating what will become an extensive library of case studies, expertise and research on sustainable attitudes, lifestyles and behaviours; the knowledge that will stimulate creative minds to bring forward a more equitable and sustainable future.