Vero and ON PURPOSE, two of the first agencies to sign the Clean Creative pledge in Asia are banding together in a new alliance to boost business opportunity between India and Southeast Asia – and to raise awareness of the value that environmentally conscious agencies can deliver to brands seeking communications partners invested in sustainability.
ON PURPOSE is a consultancy that focuses on purpose-driven campaigns for social good. It is based in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and has over 60 employees.
One of these practices is a shared commitment: in 2022, both Vero and On Purpose signed the Clean Creatives pledge to refuse work with fossil fuel companies, making them among the first in their respective regions to do so.
Vero and ON PURPOSE are currently in the early stages of collaboration with Clean Creative agencies in New York, London and South Africa to address client needs – along with the ON PURPOSE and Vero markets in Asia Pacific.
Both Vero and ON PURPOSE are also planning to build a pipeline of business between India and Southeast Asia, with a focus upon brands featuring sustainability initiatives.
“As a fast-growing region, Southeast Asia presents a tremendous opportunity for Indian brands to expand their reach and gain a foothold in new markets,” said ON PURPOSE Founder and Managing Director Girish Balachandran. “With our alliance with Vero, we are excited to provide our clients with access to the region’s diverse consumer landscape and help them create campaigns that resonate with local audiences. At the same time, we see tremendous potential for Southeast Asian brands to enter the Indian market, which is poised for rapid growth in the coming years. By leveraging our expertise and network in the region, we are confident that we can help brands on both sides of the partnership seize these opportunities and unlock their full potential.”
A major pillar of the alliance agreement is an effort by Vero and ON PURPOSE to highlight the need for brands to provide partnership and procurement consideration to agencies on the Clean Creative roster. Both agencies also seek to highlight the contradiction in brands with sustainability goals hiring agencies from the Clean Creative F List. Clean Creatives developed an F list containing agencies that work for fossil fuel brands.
The issue at the center of the Clean Creative efforts to transform the way agencies engage with fossil fuel brands is a reverse correlation between the volume of fossil fuel brand communications about renewable energy versus the actual investments made in renewable energy by fossil fuel brands. Studies show that the 70 percent of fossil fuel firm communications are about renewable energy initiatives while only 30 percent of actual investments are in renewables.
“By choosing a Clean Creative agency, clients are choosing purpose-driven communications partners,” said Vero CEO Brian Griffin. “We believe it is time for procurement teams at major brands to take steps to move agency procurement away from F-list agencies. The result will be more agencies forsaking assignments from major fossil fuel companies that are little more than misdirection – and hopefully a growing roster of Clean Creative Agencies.”
Both agencies have recently won accolades from Provoke Media: Vero was named ASEAN Agency of the Year in 2021 and was runner-up in 2022, while ON PURPOSE ranked among the top five for South Asia in both 2021 and 2022.