Livity offers Digital Apprenticeships



From New Media Age 4 February 2010 | By Alex Farber

Youth communications agency Livity has launched a digital apprenticeship scheme to help youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds find work in the industry.

The agency, responsible for hit interactive TV series Dubplate Drama, is searching for agencies, brands and publishers to mentor apprentices for nine months.

Dubplate Drama

Following a three-month training period with Livity, the apprentices will enter the workplace full-time for nine months before a series of exams and assessments.

If successful, apprentices will be awarded a creative digital and media qualification equivalent to a Level 3 NVQ. The scheme is backed by Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training.

Employers are asked to contribute £15,000 per apprentice, which funds the qualification, pastoral support, career development mentoring and a liaison manager.

They’re also asked to offer a continuous full-time position with regular duties and responsibilities.

Livity claims businesses can plug their digital skills shortage by taking on “digital natives” who have grown up using technology.

Sam Conniff, MD of Livity, said employers would benefit from the youngsters’ digital experience.

“We want to turn some of the hardest-to-employ kids into some of the most employable assets,” he said. “There’s also a knowledge and skills gap across the market so we have the opportunity to bring both together. We’re looking for people who can provide good digital experience.”

Music4Good Pioneer and VP at Sony Music, Mervyn Lynn accompanies Music4Good apprentice Raphael Blake to Number 10

The scheme follows Livity’s Music 4 Good scheme which launched in 2006 and places around 18 apprentices a year.

http://www.music4good.co.uk/

for more information or application details contact Mark Gurney on 020 7326 5979 or via mark@livity.co.uk

‘This is the age of social enterprise’ says O2

Taken From Social Enterprise LIVE

‘This is the age of social enterprise,’ by Claudia Cahalane,



Simon Devonshire, 02’s head of marketing for small businesses Telecoms company 02 today publicly announced its support for social enterprise and is planning to introduce special offers targeted directly at the sector in the next few months. The company launched www.02.co.uk/socialenterprise toda

The page states: ‘This is the age of social enterprise, and 02 is welcoming it with open arms.’ 02 has embarked on an education exercise to increase staff and customer awareness of the movement. It will also create a new award for social entrepreneurs at its 02 X Awards for small business entrepreneurs.

This comes after a series of discussions between social enterprise ambassador Sam Conniff and Simon Devonshire, 02’s head of marketing for small businesses. The relationship was discussed at Voice10 yesterday.

Simon Devonshire co-founded One Water

Devonshire, who is also co-founder of social enterprise water company One, claimed 02 had more small business customers than any other telecoms company. He said 02 wanted to stand out from competitors and had embarked on discussions with social enterprises about what a special package could offer.

But he indicated that a reduced mobile phone tariff might not be on the cards. He said: ‘I’m not convinced that just taking ten quid off is the most powerful thing 02 can do. We’re looking at working with social enterprises to better understand what they need from us, but for instance it would not surprise me if it involved something like how we can make a complex telecoms product more simple and accessible.’

Conniff, co-founder of social enterprise marketing company Livity, said Devonshire’s grassroots engagement in social enterprise felt very ‘genuine’ and long-lasting and also made good businesses sense. ‘The fact that these discussions and this work is going on with 02’s business people and not its CSR team shows the level of what they’re doing.

There is very genuine support,’ he said. ‘In the coming years, the emphasis will be on business to play an increasingly proactive role in delivering on society’s needs. Social enterprises are ahead of the curve, and those services, like O2, that recognise their valuable role and meet their needs, will be well placed.’

Simon Devonshire, 02 'We're looking at working with social enterprises to better understand what they need from us, but for instance it would not surprise me if it involved something like how we can make a complex telecoms product more simple and accessible'

Devonshire said he had noticed a trend for social enterprise among small business customers and that it was in the company’s interest to support them. ‘We would have to have our blinkers on if we didn’t see that and embrace it and have some empathy with it. I work in a really competitive marketplace and I believe we are different and I’m trying to evidence to the outside world that we are different,’ he said.

The company is intending to bring social enterprise and the Social Enterprise Mark to the attention of its customers through marketing materials. It is also featuring a two-page article on social enterprise in the April edition of its staff magazine, which goes to 12,000 people, and is educating staff on procuring from social businesses.

Additionally, the board will receive a package of goodies from ambassadors’ businesses, including a USB band from Cosmic, run by Julie Harris and business card holders from Kresse Wessling’s recycled goods business Elvis & Kresse. Yesterday, a group of the ambassadors and Devonshire met for lunch at the Voice10 conference in Cardiff to discuss 02’s support.

Clamp Down on Climate Change

You make an effort to do your bit…

To go a bit further than just recycling your empty bottles of Gin.

Time to fire up the Porsche!

Of Mice and Mentors

I’ve had a few mentors during the ups and downs of my career, some better than others, but now you can win mentoring with some of the best business minds in the UK, The Social Enterprise Ambassadors, here.

A very long way away from the social enterprise acumen on offer from the Ambassadors, the first person I could loosely call a ‘mentor’, was my floor manager Jason, who had a heart attack in front of me in Allders… Croydon.

It turned out to be a dead useful mentoring lesson, teaching me A) what to do when someone has a heart attack and B) to get the hell out of Allders… and Croydon… just as fast as I could.

The second person to have a mentoring effect on me was east end wide boy ‘done good’ George Hammer, I had the honour of watching him start out with just a handful of people, go on to create the brand that is Aveda in the UK, and he taught me a lot in the process.

Gorgeous George

He taught me about 6 AM meditation / power meetings, he taught me about making money whilst making a difference, and he taught me about standing up for yourself.

Which helped me stand up for myself and walk out of his company the morning I realised I’d was being taken for a ride.

These days, really and truly, my mentor is Michelle Clothier, my business partner.

Michelle Clothier

Michelle was my client while I still ran Don’t Panic, and topped my list of marketing professionals to ask if they thought ‘ethical marketing’ was an oxymoron, when I was first exploring the idea of a socially responsible marketing agency.

After mistakenly thinking she was asking me out on a date, it turned out she had similar business plans and within weeks, Livity was launched and we we were in business together.

Michelle Clothier wins Business Woman of the Year

Michelle provides the focus to my sometimes allegedly ‘unrealistic’ enthusiasm, balance to my occasionally ‘overbearing’ optimism, and also provides my motivation, when the above two fail.

Michelle is my first port of call for guidance, opinion and advice. I look up to her, listen to her and am regularly annoyed by how right she is.

As members of the Courvoisier Future 500, Michelle and I have won 6 months of mentoring (or firing line) with a Dragons Den of 6 extremely successful and intelligent entrepreneurs.

The Courvoisier Future 500

Whilst it’s a Dragons Den meets the Spanish Inquisition approach to mentoring, it’s also challenging, inspiring, rewarding, insightful and brilliant to be under the enterprise microscope with some no nonsense critique from people with hard business credentials.

I couldn’t recommend mentoring more, if you’re serious about your social enterprise start up you should be serious about entering the competition to win an Ambassador mentor.

Michelle and I now have a thirst for more mentoring and knowledge and were proud and pleased to be amongst the first to be invited to join Wavelength Connect, organized by Social Enterprise pioneer Liam Black, for 12 months of world-class connectivity, inspiration, and development with some of the country’s most exciting social enterprises alongside some of the worlds leading brands taking part.

Wavelength Connect

Between Michelle, our Courvoisier sponsored ‘Dragons’ and the upcoming Wavelength events, I’m starting to feel like I’ve got access to the advice I need.

If I could have picked anyone as a mentor when I was starting out, this would have been the competition to enter. The UK is leading the world in social enterprise, and the Ambassadors are some of the leading Social Entrepreneurs in the UK  – don’t miss your chance to win an exclusive session with one of them.

The Social Enterprise Ambassadors at No 10

This blog was first published at www.socialenterpriseambassadors.org

Saturday Night At The Movies

As part of the British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur program, I was lucky enough to be sent to meet the Mexican film and television industry. Anna Higgs who runs Quark Films (one of my inspirational co ‘Screen’ Entrepreneurs) blogged the whole trip here. I wrote up only one of our many amazing outings, which was a lesson in reaching (that terrible term) ‘hard to reach’ audiences.

- – -
Saturday night at the movies took us literally, and metaphorically, to the wrong side of the tracks.

We were guests of the inspirational Paola Astorga Riestra, who we’d met earlier in the week, now escorting us to Saturday Nights ‘high risk’ outdoor screening on a mountainside overlooking Mexico City.

Crossing train tracks to the north of Mexico City, the road turned steeply into the mountains and into a very different neighbourhood. This was a town of exposed concrete square houses fastened to the rock face, tiny roads, stray dogs and 5 of us mildly nervous ‘Young Screen Entrepreneurs’.

Free from the safety of our trusty van, with a few more streets to climb, we ran into a group of hombres, beginning their Saturday night out on the corner. Fortunately they transformed from questioning frowns to friendly faces when they saw Roberto Sosa in our midst.

We’d picked Roberto up in Mexico City, the star of scores of popular Mexican films, and the lead in tonight’s outdoor screening of Lolo.

This was all part of Aqui Se Filmo or ‘It Was Filmed Here’, a season of Mexican films, shown in the location they were filmed, which in this instance meant a “high risk neighbourhood” as Paola called it, with armed police present to protect us.

The genius concept was curated  and conceived by Paola and her colleague Allejandra from the Mexico City Government Cultural Team.

The improvised cinema was part basketball court, part crossroads, part car park, part derelict playground, all directly at the heart of the community.

The six foot cinema projector with every working and whirring wheel and reel exposed dominated the setting and was just as captivating a sight out in the open air as the film itself.
A philosophy of ‘if the people won’t come to the film, then the film will come to the people” was brilliantly realised as local families filled nearly every seat as the evening drew in.

A group of local belly dancers launched proceedings before Roberto unveiled a plaque to permanently mark the occasion, and location, of the film.

My Co Screen Entrepreneur Jon Drever (who runs Grain Media) and I were both firmly but gently warned against straying from the screening area, to investigate the side streets and the incredible view our altitude gave us of the city.  We took in our surroundings, heeded the warning and took to our seats.

Even without subtitles, Lolo was easy enough to follow, based on Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment with Roberto Sosa playing the unhappy young hero pursued by an ominous be-darkened-sunglasses-wearing Police Chief in an anxious journey of right, wrong and redemption.

Nearing the end of the film, we were treated to an even more staggering view as a local woman, fascinated by the project and our presence, invited our party to enjoy the view from her house, attached to the mountainside overlooking the screening area.

And if an antidote to our nervousness about the location was needed this was it, a warm and friendly home, a very warm and friendly host and a “view of Eagles” across the magnificence of Mexico City, that even the most luxurious location would never be able to beat.

A unique evening for the Screen Entrepreneurs and a lesson to all those scratching their heads trying to access ‘Hard to Reach’ audiences.

A Christmas Carol

“Marley was dead. There is no doubt about that. Old Marley was dead as a doornail.”

When Chuck D created Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge to caricature unfair and unhealthy business practices, did he know what a fitting metaphor A Christmas Carol would make 176 years later as we open the last door on the advent calendar of what some see as mans least successful decade.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Bob Cratchit is grinding out one last underpaid hour making his master richer, as he gets poorer, and colder.

Bob’s had a terrible year, Scrooge took the global economy to the brink with his risky schemes, got away with it, got his pay rise and all Bob got was a pay freeze to his minimum wage… except in Bobs day it was called subsistence salary. (Without being indexed to average wages the minimum wage is currently as relevant to the economy as Bob’s half Groat a week salary)

The worry shows on Bobs face, it’s not just him and Nancy, what about Tiny Tim, it’s hard enough with the boys disability and all the prejudice he faces finding work, but now he’s facing the highest unemployment in a generation.

Whilst Scrooge eventually learnt the error of his mean hearted and profit mongering ways, did the rest of us?

After everything we’ve been through, are the social and environmental costs of business ever going to be properly accounted for?

We’ve always tended to oversupply cheap and fast products and services, for financial profit, yet at social or environmental cost. But having been forced to come to terms with the two biggest crisis to face global civilization in an age, you’d think we’d be out like Scrooge on Christmas Morning, buying Turkeys for the people we’ve been screwing over for years, kissing crack heads, and giving the homeless homes…

Cue the ghosts…

The New Economics Foundation recently published A Bit Rich, and whilst it’s not that Christmassy it’s certainly a fascinating read to help you think differently on Christmas morning… And as such, for me, it heralds this years ghosts of Christmas past, present and future…

According to NEF’s research:

The Ghost of Christmas Bankers.

Rather than being  ‘wealth creators’, City bankers are being handsomely rewarded for bringing the global financial system to the brink of collapse. While collecting salaries of between £500,000 and £10 million, leading City bankers to destroy £7 of social value for every pound in value they generate”

The Ghost of Christmas Child Care.

For families and for society, Childcare workers are essential providing a valuable service for families, allowing parents to continue working and delivering learning to children. For every £1 they are paid, childcare workers generate between £7 and £9.50 worth of benefits to society.

The Ghost of Christmas Wankers.

Advertising encourages high consumer spending and indebtedness, often creates insatiable aspirations, fuels feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress. For a salary of between £50,000 and £12 million, top advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every pound in value they generate.

The Ghost of Christmas Cleaners.

Hospital cleaners not only clean hospitals and help maintain standards of hygiene to protect against infection but they also contribute towards wider health outcomes. NEF estimated, however, that for every £1 they are paid, over £10 in social value is generated.

The Ghost of Christmas Accountants.

Some highly paid tax accountants’ sole purpose is to help rich individuals and companies to pay less tax. However, every pound that is ‘avoided’ in tax is a pound that would otherwise have gone to HM Revenue. For a salary of between £75,000 and £200,000 tax accountants destroy £47 of value for every pound in value they generate.

The Ghost of Christmas Recyclers.

Waste recycling workers preventing waste and promoting recycling, thus reducing carbon emissions, yet for every £1 of value spent on wages, £12 of value will be generated.

But it’s not all ghosts, the NEF report does offer the chance of a happy ending, by dispelling some long held myths and offering some practical recommendations.

What’s clear through these astral visits is that there is not a straightforward relationship between high financial rewards and good societal outcomes.

What’s also clear is that if we don’t listen to the Ghosts and wake up this Christmas to start cart-wheeling down the street like Scrooge on Speed, singing, dancing and doing all we can to try to lift Tiny Tim, out of poverty and onto our shoulders…

Then Old Marley awaits us all.

Thanks to Toby Blench for pointing me to the A Bit Rich report, download it here.

In Good Company

I like the thought that The Queen of England and The President, and Commander in Chief, of the United States of America might come to Brixton, to get their passport photo’s done, at the same place as me.

I like thinking of the bloke who runs the place muttering to himself whilst choosing pictures of Barrack and Liz as he considers the images that will most appeal to the passing trade of Coldharbour Lane, and his target demographic of people in need of passport photo’s.

I like it that, consciously or not, the ‘get-your-passport-photo-done-here-man’ made a sign positioning the technical, but not actual, ruler of our country next to a picture of the luxurious cruise liner named in her honour, whist the effective president of the free world is side by side with a supersonic death laden doom jet scorching it’s murderous path through the skies.

I really like the fact that as an afterthought, our friend who runs the shop, saw the sense to write ‘Samples’ over the top of the images… just. in. case.

Is it a stroke of marketing genius? Did it connect with the Brixton punter? Have passport photo sales gone through the roof? Is it just the subtlest piece of retail based political activism ever seen?

Next time I get my passport photo done I will find out.

Say NO to Winter Blues!

At exactly the moment that every intelligent human being is willing our collective leaders with all their might, to come back from Copenhagen with a plan to apply the brakes to the global skid of climate change and save us from a future where polar bears live in deserts…

…advertising stoops to a new low, with a campaign starring a polar bear in a desert.

(And just for the record, could there be a more upsetting thought than a polar bear in a desert?)

At exactly the moment when a society, and a species, need to shift how we think, and act, about low cost air travel so we don’t exterminate already endangered species…

…advertising stoops to new lows with a campaign promoting low cost air travel, starring an endangered species.

Is there some advertising agency out there that, like a lost battalion of Japanese soldiers, has been in the Slug and Lettuce in Golden Square since ninety ninety-seven, surviving solely on sun dried tomato focaccia, Pinot Grigio and gak?

And for that matter, who was the client who took a look at the polar-bear-in-a-bikini mock-up and said, “I think you’ve bloody nailed it TJ, bang that up on a 48 sheet and let’s get our Mojito on!“

As the world precariously pivots around the challenge of climate change, the liberal and less well-read press, and the progressive and less-listened to politicians, preach to the converted, whilst the real tools of behaviour change sell us a cheap winter holiday in the sun, with a polar bear.

Poor old polar bear, natural habitat extinguished, left to wonder the scorched earth being patted on the head by a bikini model.

I wish the ad finished with him patting her face off, with one big claw.

Responsibility for the task we need to face up to doesn’t just lie at the door of the well meaning and the bed-wetting, the real makers of minds need to be at the table too. A few big jawed politicians won’t be enough, we need to use all our resource wisely, we need to think about the carbon footprint of creativity and the conscience of our communications, every message we make, and story we sell-in needs to be geared towards making a difference to, and not a mockery of, our future.

It’s not just advertising, much of the media are further behind the curve than even some of the more heel dragging, polluting-go-lucky countries around the negotiating table in Copenhagen, X Factor’s hairspray and pyrotechnic budget alone has a greater carbon footprint than China, and that’s before Simon Cowell helicopter’s factored in.

An honest advertising, marketing or PR campaign is measured on the behaviour change it creates and it’s Return On Investment (ROI).

A more timid, but obvious measure, used by most agencies is achieved by recording Opportunities To See, Hear or Click Through.

In future, forward thinking work will also be measured on it’s Social Return On Investment (SROI) and commissioners and clients will be able to assess suppliers not only on their creative and professional ability to deliver, but also on their dedication to the social and environmental impact their work creates.

SROI could be the way we bring influential advertising, marketing, PR agencies, production companies, media owners and story tellers of all backgrounds to the debating table on environmental and social matters, with a way of measuring making a difference more meaningful, going beyond Corporate Social Responsibility reports, and making us consider the legacy of their work beyond D&AD Awards.

SROI is an area where so much interesting thinking is being done, by businesses, government and real world leaders, that there is some hope we can shift the way even major procurement, spending and media decisions are being made for ever.

I hope so to.

And so do the polar bears.

Welcome to Social Enterprise Day

On November 19^th 1942 Calvin Klein was born and the future of underwear was decided.

 

On November 19^th 1943 The USSR had a breakthrough in the battle of Stalingrad that meant , 33 years before I was even born, the future of the free world was decided.

 

On November 19^th 2005 the first ever Social Enterprise Day took place in the UK, and the possibility of a new future for business and society was decided.

 

Livity used to feel alone, fighting to prove business can make a difference, as well as a profit

 

Three Social Enterprise Days later we’re part of one of the most inspiring and dynamic movements in the world.

 

My first Social Enterprise Day a was spent on a HCT bus, with the Minister for the Third Sector, Phil Hope, giving a guided tour of leading Social Enterprises as he sat upstairs at the back of the bus (not tagging the seats!)

 

During the day, we met the incredible Polly Gowers, who took on the worlds search engines and won, turning their money making mechanism into fundraising at Everyclick.

 

We visited Maria Donahue Mills, who announced the merger of Novas and Scarman, creating one of the most successful Social Enterprises changing lives in the UK

 

And I disappointed a whole school by being a late stand ‘Dragon’ in for Peter Jones, tall, businessman, suit, but… “Oy, Sir, Where’s your Gold Rolls Royce?”

 

The day ended at an event where even the ministers speech was shadowed (sorry Phil) by a young man called Dan Mayvour, who has been through our Social Enterprise, LIVE magazine, who spoke brilliantly about how Social Enterprise helped turn his life around where other institutions had failed him.

 

A year passed, and Social Enterprise grew

 

And Livity grew, from 10 full time staff to 18, from a handful of young people to hundreds, from providing ad hoc access to employment to creating industry wide apprenticeship schemes, from working with Local Authorities to working with and advising national and European government

 

Social Enterprise Day 2008 began speaking alongside the awe inspiring Duncan Goose of One Water, who’s successful business also generated over £3,000,000 for charity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new Minister, Kevin Brennan, without a bus, took us to meet a range of impressive Social Entrepreneurs, ending with Penny Newman of Fifteen addressing Social Enterprise and some of the highest net worth individuals in the country at Coutts bank.

 

Another year passed, and Social Enterprise continued to grow.

 

And Livity continued to grow, from 18 staff to 30, in a year we’ve worked with Diesel, PlayStation, Penguin, BBC3, Channel 4, MTV, Sony Music, and Nike, alongside DCSF, NHS, Home Office, Teenage Cancer Trust and the NSPCC, co creating socially responsible marketing campaigns, delivering unrivalled youth insight and most importantly helping 67 (as of today) young people into paid work.

 

And today, Social Enterprise Day is back.

 

Today, no bus is big enough, there’s not even just a new Minister, Angela Smith is a Secretary of State! Lunch is at Number 10 and there’s more interest, more understanding, more excitement and more activity than ever.

 

Today a report will show that Social Enterprise continues to grow, continues to create jobs, make profits AND make a real and lasting difference in every challenge facing society, all in the face of economic downturn,

 

Social Enterprise Day 2009 is different from any other.

 

The world has changed for ever, our attitudes to business and profit have been re evaluated through unique events in the last twelve months.

 

To everyone who’s question an outdated, unsuccessful and unfair system, to everyone who accepts that the answers can’t lie solely at the door of government, to everyone who now understands that our business practices are infinitely linked to our well being and collective profit…

 

Welcome to Social Enterprise Day!

 

 

(This Blog first apeared on Social Enterprise Day 2009 at www.socialenterpriseambassadors.org

Life is For Sharing

(First posted at the Social Enterprise Ambassadors website October 2009)

T-Mobiles new advertising asks ‘ordinary youngsters’ what they’d do with ‘Unlimited Free Texts” for the rest of their lives, under the inspirational theme of ‘life is for sharing’.

The ‘real life’ not-that-glossy’ look, those ‘everyday young people’ and the crop that only just captures the camera lense and boom mic proves that, hey man, it’s just happening out there, like, totally, on the streets.

I’d like to thank T-Mobile for treating us like intelligent human beings with this honest approach, this genuine opportunity for young people to express themselves and recognise one of the UK’s most significant mobile operators for lending themselves to communicating young peoples dreams, ambitions and aspirations so vividly through the benevolence of their own multi million pound ad spend.

Sadly, for me, I have only seen the outdoor and print executions of this ‘creative’, but I’ll begin with my favourite one”

“I’d text all the musicians I know and we’d start a superband”

Would you now?

Then there is the timeless:

“I’d text everyone I know and have a party”

I might cry. It’s OK, don’t worry, you don’t have to wait for ‘Unlimited Free Texts” (terms and conditions apply) you can do that anyway. I mean, how many friends have you got in that phone of yours, unless it’s the little black doomsday book, why don’t you just text them anyway? Music, atmosphere, friends, some refreshments and a little personality is all you need? Perhaps T-Mobile will give you a free lifetimes supply of charisma, depth or likeability instead… depending which tariff you’re on.

And who could overlook the laydeez favourite;

“I’d text everyone I know to get them to come to my DJ night”

Because that’s what’s stopping them from coming to hear you play MGMT Electro Fidget Remixes on your iphone ! They might have deleted the email, politely pressed ‘maybe’ on the facebook invite, ignored their Myspace account for the last 8 months… But this text, this time, this SMS is the one. It’s going to send them over the edge and have them kneeling at your decks.

Thank you T-Mobile, thank you for the unlimited credit, for our intelligence.

As we stand on the precipice of digital technology osmosing completely into the fabric of our society, from a political level, a communications level, a societal level and even on a biological level…

As we take a deep breath whilst digital revolution becomes evolution…

At a point where tiny robots could be released into our bloodstream to release insulin when our body requires it, effectively rendering Diabetes A, a previously incurable disease, harmless… I salute your use of digital technology.

As we refer to our own children as “digital natives”, and accept the need throughout the globe to educate, empower and equalify access for young people around the world to digital communications with initiatives like the One Laptop Per Child project changing lives and the future of millions of youngsters… I bow to your use of communications technology to improve the planet for the next generation and aplaude your efforts to give young people a voice.

Life (really) is for sharing.

Is the very best suggestion that we can come up with, when presented with the opportunity for infinite immediate connectivity with our social and professional networks to inspire a generation to come to our ‘DJ night’.

Is this the best our best copy writers and creatives can muster, these three scenarios, do our children look up to these three characters, these pillars of opportunity, these thought leaders of information sharing and digital inclusion and think “one day… with these free texts I intend to ask questions, seek information, create ideas, share thoughts and provide solutions…” ?

Is there a ‘planner’ out there who thought, “With this million pound budget and network of millions of teenagers I shall encourage them to behave like witless nonces, shallowly pursuing social acceptance and unachievable materialistic ambition at the greatest time of shift our race has ever known”

I’d like to recognise O2, Marks and Spencer, Ctrl.Alt.Shift. Benetton, SonyMusic, Penguin, Adidas, Red Bull, PlayStation, Nike, Orange and a multitude of other brands, agencies and forward thinking intelligent media and marketing professionals for using their money, power and influence over young audiences to inspire, educate and empower their audiences.

I know there’s a immense difference between these brands and Social Enterprise, but I for one, am increasingly impressed by some of the values, strategies and projects coming from more and more of the major players, and the above line up of brands, their willingness to look at and learn from Social Enterprise.

Where Livity was once an OxyMoron, trying to deliver ethical marketing, we now find ourselves uniquely well placed, but in a increasingly crowded market.

The key for us is now be to stay ahead of the curve, keep leading brands to focus on business AND social imperatives, to keep ahead of the various agencies and marketers now offering ’social’ solutions, and to make sure that with the massive opportunity brands offer us, by harnessing their marketing budgets to do something useful, we do just that and it never, ever ends up just being that… marketing.
I’d like to challenge T-Mobile, we know you’ve done some truly great ads (which only make these ones more… questionable?) and suggest your power, position and influence, as a leader in digital communications not only could, but should be used more creatively and constructively.

In the words of another brand with a massive and loyal teenage following, it was Spiderman who said “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

image taken from www.gapingvoidgallery.com/

a version of this blog appeared at Brand Republic

–
Sam Conniff

UK Social Enterprise Ambassador
Livity / LIVE / Dubplate Drama / The Livity Trust / Music4Good