It’s easy to be cynical about ad agencies getting involved in social and charity initiatives. In a world where there’s no shortage of egos, it’s understandable that some would characterise a link between a worthy organisation and an agency as an exercise in halo polishing.
There are certainly reasons why agencies might be tempted to do some pro bono work for a charitable cause. Often the nature of a charity lends itself to producing edgy work that the more neutered demands of the corporate world constrain. This can make for great PR for the agency – you might even win an award. It can also be a great way to let junior staff build experience on a project that they can own.
The problem with this sort of one-sided arrangement is that it is ultimately self-serving and no matter what you think of agency folk, that’s not what we’re actually like. Agencies might be marketing machines, but they’re made up of individuals who are full of their own passions, motivations and causes. That’s what drives them.
One of our team volunteers for a small charity called Maytree, which works in the field of suicide prevention. Recently she brought them in to our offices to talk about their work and to see what we could do for them. They came in and had a chat and we made them our nominated charity.
As an agency we get fully behind the usual raft of charity initiatives, but Maytree provided an opportunity for us to really do something meaningful for an organisation that does great work. Agency charity work doesn’t always have to be creative. We have many resources in the building, from planners to experiential teams, that can be used as a force for good.
To be a useful partner to a charity you have to understand what’s important to them and how you can help them in an appropriate way. For a small charity such as Maytree, a massive advertising campaign wasn’t needed. The company was actually worried that too much exposure would lead to it having to turn people away.
Instead we have helped in a number of more subtle ways. Last December our retail team, who builds shops for Samsung, rebuilt Maytree’s call centre space so that it could become a more effective and comfortable place to work.
When you’re immersed in the world of marketing, it’s easy to forget that the things you take for granted aren’t second nature to others.
A good example was a proactive tweet to Yorkshire Tea based on an insight about how much tea was drunk at Maytree house. It resulted in 8,000 tea bags being delivered to the house through (to us) an obvious social tactic, but something that might not have occurred to Maytree.
Further down the line this insight was used by our creative team to come up with the concept of a tweeting kettle that sent out messages of empathy and support each time the kettle was switched on. Every one of those cuppas symbolised a conversation with someone who needed the charity’s help.
It was a very simple idea that didn’t need creative adland guns going in blazing. The work talks for itself and delivered something of value to the client, rather than simply making us look smart. It’s not always about winning awards.
The trouble starts when an agency begins to think about itself above the charity it is working for. Hopefully that won’t happen with us because the motivation to get involved comes from people here who care about things that matter to them as individuals. They are talented folk with big hearts and that’s why they work here. We can use this as a machine for good, and if it is successful, that’s reward enough. It’s not for the agency; it always has to be for the charity.
Matt Pye is COO of Cheil
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