The only marketing worth believing in is Truth Based Marketing

Having worked as a Creative Director for various London agencies over the past fifteen years, I was unaware of the pivotal action I would be taking as a result of the Covid outbreak. It gave me time to refocus and build my own branding and marketing business on values that really mattered to me. I thought the design world was broken. Creativity was being stifled by commercial pressure and I wanted to change that. 

The climate crisis deepens

As the climate crisis deepened and misinformation spread, I grew tired of the industry’s dishonesty. It wasn’t always like this, it seemed to be getting worse. Today we live in an age of AI, Trump, greenwashing and fake news. I believe we can combat this. The only successful way to market is by telling the truth about what you offer, what you do and what you believe.

The truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Truth Based Marketing is just that. As our agency has evolved and become B Corp certified, truth has remained our northern star, our constant. Every time we are asked to promote something, we question it, and if it isn’t truthful, we’ll challenge it. Our clients are used to that and now they only market the truth.

Question, challenge, and disrupt

But as creatives, hasn’t it always been our job to question, challenge, and disrupt?

Ever since the early days of mass consumerism, designers have been aware of how they were being exploited. In 1965, the First Things First manifesto appeared, expressing just this. There’s nothing new in creatives issuing a rallying cry. However, as the climate crisis deepens each year, polarisation forces further injustices in society and lies are becoming the norm, there’s never been a greater need to tackle the status quo.

It’s time to take a stand. We, as communicators, as advertisers, as marketeers, have a responsibility. We can either go along with the flow, as servants to our clients and the capitalist system they operate in, or we can look to better ways to communicate. 

Over all those years working with renowned brands, I learned more and more about Brand Truths. They go far deeper than any mission, vision, values or purpose statements, the core Brand Truths form the foundation of every brand. And so why was this not the case for truth in marketing? Maybe because like advertising, their job is to sell, sell, and sell! 

It was only after years of working closely with brands, uncovering the truth through deep workshops, that I began to glimpse what lay beneath. Sometimes it was toxic, driven by greed or ego. At other times, it was good business at its best: purposeful and human.

Truth leads to trust. And in a world of AI copy, greenwashing and fake news, trust has become the most powerful differentiator a brand can have. Truth Based Marketing only works for good brands.