With climate change very much in the news this week, the Dublin-based youth marketing agency Thinkhouse played host to a major event for the Irish marketing and advertising industry earlier this week to discuss what businesses and their brands can do as part of ‘World War Z’ to help fix the climate crisis.
According to Jane McDaid, founder, Thinkhouse: “Our job is to protect our clients – regardless of how difficult or great the challenge may be. A slow response, or no response at all – puts brands and organisations at risk of becoming extinct themselves”.
With a big turnout from the marketing and advertising industry, guests heard from a number of keynote figures from the industry, including Jeremy Mathieu, world-leading sustainability advisor who shared some stark reality from the globe in the face of climate crisis.
The event also included a panel discussion with Tara Peterman, executive producer of RTÉ on Climate, Tom Kinsella, managing director, Homes, AIB Group and John Curran, head of sustainability, Musgrave Group. The panel shared Insights and examples of how some of Ireland’s biggest organisations are mobilising their teams and responding to the climate emergency, with action. Tom Kinsella from AIB said: “We’re very much on the journey and we’re learning. It’s about how we support our customers and how we’re building sustainability into our core pillars and business. Prove by doing, doing something is a lot better than doing nothing and also it’s good for business.”
Claire Hyland, head of The Youth Lab, Thinkhouse’s insights, strategy and planning team, also shared research findings from its new report ‘Youth Culture Uncovered 2019,’ Claire commented: “We called this event ‘World War Z’ because this is now the biggest youthquake of our time. When asked what they would ask brands or businesses to prioritise to help tackle the climate crisis, Gen Z’s number one ask (out of 12 options) is for businesses and brands to ‘stop chasing economic growth at the expense of our planet and measuring your success by your profit margin.’”
Thinkhouse is the first Irish agency to sign up to the open letter pledge to tackle Climate Crisis. The pledge was the international marketing and advertising industry’s response to the urgency of climate action and an acknowledgement that the industry has a critical role to play in saving the planet.
According to Jane McDaid: “Profit and growth really matter and thinking about how we define and achieve growth, is really important for the survival and future – not just of our planet – but our businesses and brands. Our work is a vehicle for the change that we want to see in the world, born out of our mission to have a positive impact on the lives of today’s younger generation and our planet.”
The full report will be available via theyouthlab.com over the coming days and THINKHOUSE workshops around the subject can be booked in at hello@thinkhouse.ie
