As part of Naked's ongoing training program which encourages us to explore everything BUT advertising, we have a regular session known as 'Nudiversity' which is, in simple terms, where we encourage speakers from outside of our industry to come and talk to us and to tell us how they communicate and how their minds work. These speakers could be anyone from musicians to writers to politicians...anything goes.
It's a pretty cool way of conditioning yourself to consistently think outside the barriers and processes, which many of us who have spent time in the industry, have had thrust upon us and within which we've been trained and trained again. After all, creativity is born from human experience, not advertising experience.
This week we had the pleasure of meeting Jess Hall, founder of GoodyTwoShoes communications, she specialises in all things ethical, environmental & sustainable.
She spoke to us about the need for 'radical communications' within these fields due to minimal or no budget and the type of confrontational messaging required to get people to take notice, so thinking outside the box is essential.
She described 'radical communications' as being born out of a formula which can be visualised as:
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MOTIVATION (to make a change)
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SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS (no public interest, legal issues, companies favouring their bottom line over doing the right thing, government legislation, people with their heads in the sand, no money)
=
RADICAL COMMUNICATIONS (driven by requirement)
Now more than ever the opportunity for communications to make an impact has grown exponentially with the rise of the social web & technology alongside the dissemination of power from the media and government to average joe public.
She shared some amazing examples of these 'radical communications' in action, two of which I've outlined below which I thought were pretty special and inspiring for different reasons:
1). Fuck For Forest (FFF) - A non-profit erotic ecological organization
Pornography + Forest Location = Environmental Change
This is a prime example of multi-lateral thinking. In order to raise money for their cause of saving the world's forests, two Norwegians decided to take a slightly different angle on the traditional preaching and protesting and instead tied together their desires with those of others and thus 'Fuck For Forests' was born.
In essence they film hardcore pornography in forest locations and sell it online with all profits going to the ecological charities of their choice. It may sound a bit bizarre and far-fetched but FFF made over $100,000 in the first year alone and donated the cash to the indigenous communities of Costa Rica and the Brazilian Amazon rainforest fund!
2). The Yes Men - culture jamming activists
Telling lies which should be the truth to raise mass awareness and force change.
These guys are the masters of corporate hoaxes and specialise in bringing attention to social or environmental injustices committed by large corporations who would never themselves apologise, accept responsibility or take action.
The most famous example was in 2004 when one of them posed as a spokesperson for chemical company Dow and talked live on BBC TV on the 20th anniversary of the horrendous Bhopal chemical disaster, in which thousands of people were killed and many thousands more were affected.
During the interview, Mr. Finisterra (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men group) shocked the BBC's audience when he said that not only had Dow decided to accept full responsibility for the incident, but that it was going to pay $12 billion in compensation to the victims. In response to the news, Dow's stock value promptly dropped.
The BBC had fallen into the Yes Men's trap because, while searching for someone at Dow to interview about the Bhopal disaster, its researchers had confused Dow's official website (Dow.com) with a copycat version created by the Yes Men (dowethics.com). The BBC had sent an email to the contact info listed on DowEthics.com, requesting an interview, and the Yes Men had happily complied.
Even though no compensation was paid out and no formal apology from the company was given, the Yes Men succeeded in reminding the world, 20 years later, of Dow's questionable ethics and their continued refusal to take responsibility:
Ethical, environmental and sustainable communications don't always need to be 'radical' because brands have the ability to create and build CSR programs to do some good and therefore bypass most of the barriers normally faced.
Forbes recently compiled a pictorial guide to the some of the most innovative CSR programs by big name brands in recent times which are far from boring and not at all 'radical' but rather fun, relevant and just plain nice.
In addition, Dan Burgess (ex Naked UK) recently wrote a fantastic presentation entitled 'Can the creative industries lead us to a sustainable future?' which compiles some fantastic communications examples and ideas built around the sole purpose of promoting self sufficiency, awareness of consumption and working together for a sustainable future which is well worth a look.
Ultimately I think brands need to take more responsibility for their impact on the environment around them and there is a real appetite out there in consumer-land to hear this stuff and to make a difference together, so rather than leaving these communications to the passionate 'radicals' who ultimately play on a small scale, brands need to get on with it!
Most big corporations fear to talk about their CSR work simply because they're worried they'll be attacked for not doing enough but in reality it's far more likely that people will be receptive to them just doing their bit.
In the words of Clay Shirky "even a brand can tap into it (cognitive surplus) to benefit the greater good".
Food for thought...
