Feature

44 Club Presents: Extinction Rebellion

I feel awake.

This was the response given by a member of the audience after Extinction Rebellion came to speak at the IPA a few weeks ago. The audience was made up of the great and good of London’s advertising scene, all attending this event with the knowledge that we as a collective need to act now.

On Tuesday 2nd July I attended an IPA event called 44 Club presents: Extinction Rebellion. It was co-hosted by Will Skeaping and Ruth Wright, who delivered an eviscerating account of the climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and risk of social and ecological collapse. This was followed by an audience-led discussion on the advertising industry could do to take an active part in their socio-political movement.

Will and Ruth opened the night by laying bare the devastation that ignoring the tipping point, a global temperature increase of 1.5, will deliver. ‘Denial’, Will continued, ‘is a defence mechanism. When it comes to climate deniers, it is harmful. We are facing a potential threat to our existence. This denial is a threat’. Psychologists have seen observed this reaction for years, recently attributing the symptoms to pre-traumatic distress disorder. The disorder is seen to be triggered by the existential threat we are now facing. Ruth continued, ‘We need courage, not hope. This is one of the ideas Extinction Rebellion was born from’. Extinction Rebellion has three demands central to its cause: declare the climate emergency, zero-carbon by 2025, and citizen’s assembly.

Ruth and Will identified how, in the past, positive revolutions can happen when decided necessary. This can be seen in the UK’s massive transformation within six years of WWII mobilisation, and the US’s mission to land on the moon completed in just seven years. As mediators between the public and brands, they continued, the advertising industry is capable of driving rapid behaviour change. Agencies should take the lead rather than be driven by the client.

As the discussion opened to the floor Ian Tait, ECD at Wieden + Kennedy, spoke of a dream he had had recently which had played out similarly to a Black Mirror episode. He unconsciously provided a solution to agencies driving their own environmental agenda to their clients. The dream followed a client going from agency to agency trying to escape the climate conversation, but each agency keeps returning to the climate crisis as a topic that must be focused on. The client can’t escape it. ‘That’s what we need to do’ he concluded. Other members of the audience echoed this idea, stressing the importance of bringing agencies together in this conversation in a more collaborative way.

Yes, the advertising industry should consider some of the clients it currently champions and should have a hard think about jettisoning those who continue to pollute and destroy our planet.

It should also think about the wastefulness and excesses that it exhibits on an everyday basis.

 

Feature (external)

Poetry, Piano And Puerility – Matt Lever’s Creative Inspirations

Making of

Bringing ‘Bravo Brian’ to life for La Famiglia Rana

The work

The Chat receives the highest number of nominations at Campaign Big Awards

Awards

The Chat picks up two wins at Cannes Lions

New work

Introducing the Tennisables for LTA

News

Partnering with University of the Arts London

Thinking

Reversing the recessionary mindset

New client

BMB appointed as lead creative partner by LTA

New client

BMB wins Bonne Maman advertising account

New work

Launching a Christmas charity single for FareShare

News

Revealing a new look

People

Mel Arrow promoted to CSO

Feature (external)

Why agencies need greater ‘bouncebackability’

Thinking (external)

Why the fringe bangs: What Soho can learn from Edinburgh

Thinking

High Five: Matt Lever

New client

FREE NOW appoints BMB as global strategic and creative lead

New client

Breast Cancer Now appoints BMB as creative agency

Thinking

What Brands Can Learn from People Who… Put Pineapple on Their Pizzas

Event

Human Series: Made to Persuade

Awards

‘Relax’ for Farrow & Ball awarded at D&AD 2021

New client

Rude Health appoints BMB as creative agency

Thinking

How to be Funny – A Practical Guide for Brands

New client

EcoHydra partners with BMB

New client

BMB support GB Snowsport with the journey to Beijing and beyond

New client

BMB appointed by DMC for global strategy brief

Event

Human Series: LOL-age is Power

New client

Gymbox picks BMB as creative agency

Thinking

Shared values and the cult of the team

New client

BMB appointed to lead rebrand for Wefarm

Feature

Production in the age of Covid-19

Feature

I Heard There Was a Secret Chord

Feature

24/7 at Somerset House

Feature

10 Must-Try Diet Tips for Adland in 2020

New client

BMB appointed as Patak’s UK creative agency

Thinking

Warmth, Competence and the Lessons from the Failure of Brand Corbyn

Feature

Social Sauce 45

New work

A col-ourful response to SNL

New client

BMB named Farrow & Ball’s lead creative partner

Feature

Out of the Lab, Into our Lives

Thinking

Creative Awards in Advertising

Feature

Social Sauce 44

Thinking

The Art of Persuasion

New work

On the Ground at IFA 2019

Event

BMB on Curiosity

Thinking

Bigger than the Plate

Feature

Social Sauce 43

Feature

44 Club Presents: Extinction Rebellion

Feature

Social Sauce 42

We love talking to humans in all kinds of ways. Calls are brilliant (although some of the younger humans find it weird that you’d speak to someone using your actual voice when you could just WhatsApp or slide into their DMs). Everyone loves an email, obvs, particularly our new business human (Matt).

General enquiries:
hello@bmbagency.com

Work with us:
matthew.bonny@bmbagency.com

Reception:
0207 632 0400

BMB London
The Crane Building 22
Lavington Street
London SE1 0NZ