Saatchi S’ Blue Ripple

Kevin Roberts is the worldwide CEO of Saatchi&Saatchi, and author of their Lovemarks books. He shoots out a daily-ish missive on what the marketing world looks like from his perch, and I think it’s darn good. Anyway, his latest trumpet-toot is about Saatchi S blasting some sustainable knowledge out into the marketing world. He says:

“This week Adam Werbach’s book Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto, was launched on the world. Adam is CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S– Saatchi & Saatchi’s specialist sustainability agency, and a great guy, who shares my belief that sustainability is the most realistic strategy for long term business success and business growth. His book comes from the heavyweight Harvard Business Press, so it’s been worked over by the business management pros …”

Sounds like it’s worth reading, at least for other agencies who want to bring more to their campaigns than the cleverest headlines on earth.

Two things strike me. One, that such a huge thought-leading commitment is being championed by an ad agency (most agencies aren't so visionary). And two, that with this book, they are giving their knowledge away to other agencies. They must truly be more concerned with the planet than just making ads, and they know that this is how the can lead the movement. Smart.

Kevin Roberts, again: “At Saatchi & Saatchi our North Star Goal is to ‘help a billion people create their personal sustainability practice through the products and people that touch their lives.’”

Crazy.* Most agencies North Star Goal is to win awards.

Not coincidentally, one of their biggest clients is WalMart, who is changing their bad reputation into green leadership one (see below). Kudos to Adam and his superfriends.

(For more on Saatchi S, read a Marketing+Good exclusive interview with their VP of Strategy, HERE. Or watch their little video, HERE.)

* And when I say “crazy,” I mean crazy good.

Saatchi S: the “Blue Movement”

Saatchi&Saatchi recently opened a new branch of their agency, Saatchi S. It’s the socially-conscious branch of the agency. They call their mission “blue.” (As in, “bigger than green.”)



Saatchi’s worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts has declared the goal of, “transforming one of the world’s great advertising companies, with 7,000 employees in 84 countries, into the world’s most powerful sustainability advocate… (to) radically dematerialize and de-carbonize the products they sell.” Wow.

Founder/CEO of Saatchi’s “S” group Adam Werbauch says, “Shopping gives us an opportunity, a platform, to reach more people than we can reach through traditional means of activism.” Hear, hear.

Saatchi S made at least one top 10 list of “most influential agencies of 2008.” The agency I work for has research outlining the 4 top trends of the coming year, one of them being "good" (i.e. making the world a better place).

I think there's a future in this stuff.

You can watch Adam Werbauch's launch speech about the Saatchi S vision - it's kind of long, but it starts HERE.