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Madison Ave. Warms to Climate
Change
Matthew Creamer and Brooke
Capps
AdAge
Monday Aug 27, 2007
Not too long ago,
a premier ad agency wouldn't touch a campaign warning about the
effects of global warming, fearing backlash from the automakers
and oil companies that keep Madison Avenue's lights on. But now
one of the most hotly contended pitches out there is for the Alliance
for Climate Protection, the organization formed last year by Al
Gore.
Four elite agencies -- Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Bartle Bogle
Hegarty, the Martin Agency and Y&R -- are squaring off for
the business and are expected to present to the former vice president
himself early next month, according to executives familiar with
the review. The budget for the "historic, three-to-five-year,
multimedia global campaign," as the request for proposals
puts it, is contingent on how much money the alliance raises.
Media spending will likely be more than $100 million a year.
That elite shops aren't scared off from crafting environmental
messaging that could be tacitly critical of big business's sometimes
unsustainable ways is yet another sign of the mainstreaming of
green thinking within the corporate world at large. And within
the ad community it points to newfound willingness to embrace
hot-button social causes. The alliance account, some are saying,
could even lend some luster to the winner's roster, given many
major marketers' recent embrace of sustainability throughout their
value chains, from product development to manufacturing to marketing
communications.
(Article continues below)
Formerly taboo
Many agencies do high-profile and often award-winning work for
causes such as smoking cessation, drug-use prevention and disaster
relief, but they typically steer clear of more divisive issues
and political campaigns, making executives who want to work on
them do so outside the auspices of the agency.
Until very recently at least, global warming would have been seen
as such an issue. Long accepted by the scientific community, research
suggesting human activity is raising the earth's temperature with
dire environmental consequences has been disputed by many in the
business community, especially automakers and other sectors with
big industrial outputs.
But corporate America has begun an about-face in the wake of a
groundswell of popular interest, having seen what developing an
environmentally friendly product such as the Prius has done for
Toyota's reputation and its bottom line. July's Live Earth concert,
whose proceeds are going to the alliance, was loaded down with
corporate sponsors, among them Microsoft, whose MSN division had
web rights to the show.
Chris Becker, chairman-chief creative officer of DraftFCB's New
York office, said blowback from less-than-eco-friendly marketers
is unlikely. "It's such a loud issue and so accepted that
no one can get away with that," he said. "There's already
such a broad platform for agencies."
Y&R, for instance, was involved in promoting Live Earth, despite
counting oil giant Chevron as a client. Y&R CEO Hamish McLennan
even appeared with Mr. Gore at this year's Cannes Advertising
Festival. A Chevron spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment.
And as more evidence of just how comfortable agencies are with
the issue, DraftFCB last week sponsored an auction of global warming-inspired
art created by employees at the agency that benefits an environmental
nonprofit organization.
Doing something
The Alliance's RFP is, as you might expect, part inspirational
-- quoting Gandhi, M. Scott Peck, Erik Erikson, and of course
Mr. Gore -- and part detailed description of the task ahead for
the winner. That will involve convincing people to making the
climate issue, which already has high awareness, a more actionable
priority.
"The world probably doesn't need much more meek communication
on the issues of climate change," said David Hessekiel, founder
and president of the Cause Marketing Forum. "Anybody with
a pulse probably now knows that there are serious environmental
issues facing us, but that doesn't mean there's been a huge sea
change in consumption of energy."
A winner likely will be chosen shortly after the final pitches,
given that the Alliance wants at least a soft launch online in
September, with test-market advertising beginning later in the
fall. A spokesman for the Alliance declined to comment, as did
agency representatives.
Despite the big media budget attached, agencies eager to change
the world shouldn't expect to get rich in the process. The winner
won't be expected to work on a pro-bono basis, but the RFP cautions
that most of the Alliance's partners are working "at below
their regular market rates."
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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