#41 soft launching a relaunch

and how to navigate different worlds without losing myself in the process.

Here’s an embarrassing confession: it’s been two years since my last newsletter, and I’ve been trying to send this one since then. It’s been so long that many of you might not even remember signing up for this (I wouldn’t). So hello, welcome, let’s grab a drink, let’s catch up.

In the last few years, I’ve taken new challenges both professionally and personally. I’ve been lucky enough to transform my career and transition from advertising into the climate sector. In 2021, I co-founded ACT Climate Labs (part of Media Bounty) with the very brilliant Harriet Kingaby, a project dedicated to improving the effectiveness of climate communications. Developing the project’s theory of change, setting up the strategic direction, developing its three divisions (and evolving, pivoting, and adapting the project) has been nothing short of exciting and challenging. I wrote about the first steps I was taking into this space here, and now reading that piece back I see how early I was in my journey. The learning curve has been steep, especially when it comes to funding and figuring out the not-for-profit world, but I’m doing it with the most amazing team. Moving to a sector that has a completely different philosophy and way of operating from the ad industry has really shifted something profound, it is weird.

It’s also very exciting (and overwhelming) because I see the potential in every opportunity. This sector isn’t familiar with concepts like creative strategy, effectiveness, cultural insights, the 60/40 rule, or even the difference between ATL/BTL channels. By bringing all of this to our projects and helping others do the same, the word ‘impact’ has now taken on a different meaning. I’m no longer living in the world of commercial success, I’m not even in a ‘sustainability’ role at an agency. I'm doing work that has an impact on attitudes, opinions and behaviours on issues like renewable energy, green jobs, public transport, air quality, and more.

So yes, these things are keeping me busy. But here’s the challenge.

While I spend most of my days crafting strategies and campaigns to make climate action mainstream, writing concept notes for foundations to fund our work, giving talks about climate misinformation, or preparing case studies showing how our ad campaigns delivered impact, I’m very conscious of not letting my work on the climate crisis define everything I do.

I am extremely proactive in seeking content, experiences, and media that have nothing to do with my daily job. My friends and family know that I rarely talk about work, I don’t really mention it at gatherings, over the weekend, or at social events. I just don’t want to.

I don’t ever want to turn into ‘the climate person’ among my family or friends

I don’t want the climate crisis to be the only way through which I see or engage with the world around me. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful and proud of the work that I do. I could talk about it for hours and hours, and I know I will write about it a lot in here too, because it’s a topic I know a lot about. But before working in this sector, my time in advertising taught me that to be interesting, you have to be interested. Being curious, going down rabbit holes, being exposed to different perspectives, spending time with people who are different to you, going off the beaten track, all of those things make me more empathetic, they keep me grounded, and help me developing a point of view. I don’t want to lose that.

I want to mix all the worlds that I’m interested in. I need to give my other interests an outlet to avoid the climate crisis suffocating all the air from my life and becoming the only thing I engage with. That was a bit dramatic, but if you work in this sector or have ever had a job that was taking up too much of your life, you might know what I mean.

In this newsletter, I want to dip and out of all the worlds I inhabit: creativity, cultural insight, climate communications, consumer culture, strategy, politics. This newsletter will probably mix and combine these topics, and sometimes not balance them completely right.

If you are here because you’re interested in climate issues, I hope you can also get excited by my writing on the global influence of the American sitcom, the music industry, where is the counter-culture today, memes, how brands balance the global and local, semiotics, why culture is chaotic, etc.

If you are here because you’re interested in all of the above, I hope you will also find some aspects of climate communications interesting, such as the 4 Ds that explain why people don’t engage with the climate crisis, the ad campaigns from COP26, degrowth economics, regenerative business models and essays about our materialistic society.

If nothing sparks your interest, fair enough, there are so many incredible newsletters out there, and I honestly don’t mind people unsubscribing (I find it much worse to send emails that don’t get opened)

This is a soft relaunch. As Bowie said in this amazing video:

‘Always remember that the reason you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest it in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society’ - David Bowie

(Full video here)

As he says, I’m trying to go a little further into the water. I’m trying to make Wallace and Gromit, Alice in Wonderland, and David Bowie make sense all together - because yes, culture is chaotic.

It’s done now. It’s taken me far longer than I’m willing to admit. Now I need to get down to writing.

Thanks for being here, and see you soon.