Categories: Articles

Another Kind Of Advertising Agency

Why is it that so many advertising professionals eventually retire and become consumer advocates?

Are they atoning for their sins? This is the commonly held perception. I didn’t get into the marketing industry to make consumers feel "less than" unless they bought the products or services that I was representing. I got involved in marketing, because I enjoy the practice of better understanding human nature, why we buy and how can we better inform people to make decisions that are more aligned with their goals and values. It’s not always easy. For a long while, I have been a fan of the philosopher and writer, Alain de Botton (you can read more here: Job Snobbery). In a The Huffington Post piece titled, An Ethical Advertising Agency, de Botton wonders why there isn’t a different kind advertising agency. One that doesn’t try to sell us things that we don’t need, but rather, "one that would use the aesthetic talents of advertising but direct these to a really grand and noble project: that of nudging us to be the best of ourselves. Imagine an ethical advertising campaign that wanted to promote virtues of character applicable and relevant to our own lives, virtues like kindness, patience, humility, generosity, courage and humour."

It’s an important read. Click on his article above and read the whole thing.

Once you’re done reading his column, please watch this…

Now, it’s your turn… is this a dream or is this something that might actually work?

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.