Episode 41: Brainprint - The biggest impact of the industry of influence, Solitaire Townsend - Futerra

“As an industry we can go from seriously being part of the problem to leading the solution. We’re the final piece of the machine slotting into the climate movement, speeding up solutions. But we cannot be doing that whilst we’re also serving the destruction. We can’t do both. And that tension is growing every day.”

When we heard Solitaire’s Ted Talk, ‘Are ad agencies, PR firms and lobbyists destroying the climate?’ (which has almost 1.8million views), we were keen to pick her brains and share her wisdom.

Co-founder and Chief Solutionist at Futerra, (a title she switched from CEO to in line with her mission to be part of the solution), Solitaire has been championing sustainability in advertising and marketing since 2001. So we were thrilled when she accepted our invitation to have a chat about Industry X, climate change, brainprint, her story and impact so far, climate science, Race to Net Zero and her predictions and projections.

In this podcast there’s a lot we unpack - Solitaire is very clear that marketing, advertising and communications has indeed been a part of the problem - and now we have a significant opportunity to lead the transition. And we explore the practicalities of what that looks like.

As well as being a highly creative and successful business woman, Solitaire is also a self confessed climate geek. Her position in understanding the climate science alongside a deep awareness of the industry has led her to sit on many key advisory bodies.

Solitaire clearly explains the United Nations backed, Race to Zero initiative, how businesses can join the race to climate change, pledging carbon reduction commitments, in the same way countries have done via The Paris Agreement. This leads us to talk about the scopes of the carbon responsibility - and we touch on Scope 1, 2 and 3. Scope 3 being the one including the entire value chain - encompassing Brainprint. We go on to talk client disclosure reporting and transparency - and potential levels of discomfort some businesses have in revealing those. We also discuss the practicalities of carbon reduction - carbon impact calculations, offsetting, insetting, carbon removals and destruction. Like we said… there’s a lot we cover.

It’s a wonderful conversation - and Solitaire brings that wonderful balance of understanding both the industry and the science. One thing Solitaire is absolutely clear on…

“Marketing, communications and creativity is one of the industries that is going to make the transition to a low carbon economy faster and more efficient. All we have to do it change our minds!”

And you’ll love the closing quick fire 3 questions and answers.

Solitaire’s Ted Talk is here: Visit Futerra. Great article here too:

You’ll find the Podcast on all the usual pod platforms - and if you love it, do share it and spread the word. Talking about climate change and the role we play is one of the most important things we can do. So join the conversation. We’re all in this together.

Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.