Doing good in marketing can sound like a big, abstract idea. For me, it is much more practical than that.
As marketers, we have more influence than we sometimes acknowledge. We influence what people pay attention to, which businesses get visibility, which voices get amplified, what kind of content gets created and, ultimately, what gets rewarded in the market. So perhaps doing good isn't about stepping outside of marketing to do something good. It is about recognizing the influence we already have within marketing and using it responsibly. For me, that starts with who we choose to work with.
Choosing the right partners
We are increasingly selective about the partners, brands and businesses we bring into our ecosystem. Transparency, credibility, integrity and a genuine desire to create value matter to us. We want to work with people whose values we can stand behind, because every partnership says something about who we are; and because the businesses we choose to support are businesses we are helping put into the world. That is particularly important when it comes to supporting local and homegrown brands that are trying to do things differently. Koita is one example. It has built its proposition around providing families with hormone-free milk from Italy, while also focusing on quality and making more considered choices around its products and packaging. For us, supporting brands like these isn't simply about putting media behind a product. It is about using our expertise, platforms and relationships to help businesses we believe in find their audience and grow. The same thinking applies to the content we create.
Substance over speed
We live in a marketing environment increasingly optimized for speed, virality and short-term attention. Content is created to be consumed, shared and forgotten almost instantly. But attention is increasingly easy to capture. Meaningful attention is much harder to earn. I don't think everything we put into the world needs to be designed for the next few seconds of someone's attention. Our Luca's Insight Track podcast is one expression of that belief. As the producers of the show, we are involved from end to end, from prospecting and identifying the right guests, to developing the conversations and questions, through to production and post-production. We deliberately look for people with credibility and genuine subject-matter expertise, and we invest time in developing questions that go beyond the obvious. The goal isn't simply to produce another piece of content or chase another spike in views. It is to create something worth listening to, something with enough substance that people might actually remember an idea or change the way they think about a subject. Because as marketers, we have a choice about what we add to the noise. It is also about who we give opportunities to.
Opening doors to overlooked talent
Marketing, like many industries, can sometimes operate within familiar circles. The same people get recommended, hired, commissioned and brought into projects, while equally talented people can remain overlooked simply because they haven't had the same access, network or opportunity. I believe we have a responsibility to look beyond those familiar circles. That means being open to giving opportunities to people whose talent may not yet be widely recognized, whether they are employees, freelancers, contractors, suppliers, creators or partners. Sometimes it is about giving someone their first opportunity; sometimes it is about recognizing talent that has simply been overlooked. But opportunity should never mean taking advantage of someone's willingness to prove themselves. If someone brings value to our work, that value should be respected and compensated fairly. That means being transparent about expectations, agreeing on fair terms and, where applicable, paying people fairly and on time.
"Doing good isn't just about opening the door. It is about making sure the people we invite through it are valued for what they bring. Doing good is also about how we treat the people who make the work possible."
Clients, suppliers, partners, freelancers and employees are all part of the same ecosystem. No one operates successfully in isolation. The people who make the work possible shouldn't become invisible simply because they sit outside the client relationship. That means being fair in our dealings, respecting people's time and expertise, communicating clearly, and recognizing the value that every person brings. Fair payment terms matter. So does paying people on time. There are real businesses and livelihoods behind every invoice, every piece of work and every partnership. And perhaps most importantly, doing good means being willing to give clients advice that is genuinely in their interest.
Advice over revenue
If a client's money would be better spent somewhere other than media, we should be prepared to say so. If a campaign isn't the right answer, we should say that too. Our responsibility isn't simply to maximize what a client spends with us. It is to help them make better marketing decisions. Sometimes that may mean recommending that they invest elsewhere. Sometimes it may mean doing less. And sometimes the best commercial decision for a business isn't the one that generates the most revenue for us today. It is the one that makes the client trust us tomorrow. That, to me, is where doing good and doing good business actually meet.
I don't see doing good as a CSR initiative, a campaign or a statement of values that sits separately from the business. It is in the everyday decisions: choosing better partners, supporting businesses we believe deserve to grow, creating content with substance, opening opportunities for overlooked talent, treating the people around us fairly, and having the confidence to put long-term trust ahead of short-term gain. And on a personal level, I want to set the right example for my children. I want to be able to look them in the eye and say that, in whatever small ways I can, I am actively trying to make the world a little better; including through the work I choose to do and how I choose to do it.
We won't get every decision right. But I think the responsibility is to be conscious of the choices we are making and the influence that comes with them. Because ultimately, doing good in marketing is about being able to stand behind not just what we achieve, but how we achieved it.
