The Great Reset

Purpose Disruptors are creating a visible, large scale movement within the advertising and marketing communications industry, working together to make the necessary transition to meaningfully tackle climate change. We believe the industry plays a critical role in shifting consumers towards more sustainable attitudes, lifestyles and behaviours. By doing so, it can make a significant contribution to achieving net zero by 2030.

By February 2020, we were gaining momentum, then Covid-19 hit, lockdown followed and climate dropped off the agenda. How could we continue our work?

By late April, society's behaviour amid the tragedy of the pandemic was predicted to result in a fall of 7% in emissions. This insight inspired a campaign that would continue to raise the profile of the climate emergency within the industry, educate advertising professionals on their critical role in promoting sustainable lifestyles and encourage wider society to maintain the positive environmental behaviours adopted as we began to emerge from lockdown.

The Great Reset emerged out of a series of virtual meetups with our community. Over 7 months, more than 700 individuals collaborated on the campaign. We created a white paper, launch film and website. Momentum built as hundreds attended zoom gatherings and 200 influencers pledged support. A creative competition attracted 160 entries to an open brief. 8 winners selected by 50 members of the D&AD New Blood Academy produced work for a 7 week national campaign in donated media space (outdoor, press, radio and digital) worth £500,000, reaching an audience of 18 million people.