Common Ventures teams up with thought leaders to fix purpose washing with new online resource ‘The Good, The Ad, and The Ugly’

Forget reducing your alcohol, fitting in 10 thousand steps a day, or not checking emails over the weekend – independent creative agency, Common Ventures has your 2025 New Year’s resolution sorted.

To kick off the year, Common Ventures has launched “The Good, The Ad, The Ugly”, an Australian-first online resource to help creatives and marketers turn good intentions into great campaigns.

Common Ventures believes building meaningful advertising takes more than clever copy and curated imagery.

More and more brands are being called out for ‘purpose washing’, where talk of having a purpose is not backed up with any meaningful actions. One report found that almost three quarters of people are tired of brands pretending they want to help society, when they just want to make money.

Says Jane Burhop, Common Ventures Co-Founder and Creative Director: “As brands strive to be ethically sound, there’s a risk of falling into traps like stereotyping, buzz words, bias and performative ‘woke-washing’ that can undermine genuine efforts. Through this resource, we aimed to empower brands’ advertisers to make work that’s mindful, inclusive, and impactful — ultimately helping us all to move beyond superficial gestures and foster advertising that truly resonates and more importantly, respects.”

True to its mission, Common Ventures has brought together expertise from This is Gendered, ANU College of Science, Australian Institute, Peepultree Coaching, Project Gender, Curative, Cadre Pictures and Innovation Unit for the online resource

Says Brian Merrifield, Common Ventures Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director: “It was very clear to us from the start that we couldn’t do this alone – in order for this resource to be as useful and legitimate as possible, we needed help from experts. We spoke at length to 12 incredible thought leaders in the spaces of climate, gender, sexual identity and race and these conversations informed the advice you can find on the site. But we’re not finished by any means – we hope that this first iteration can spark further conversation and for The Good, The Ad and The Ugly to keep growing and evolving as we continue to learn.”

The Good, The Ad and The Ugly currently tackles the complexities of race, gender, environment and LGBTQI+ – but will continue to be updated to reflect the most pressing social challenges facing brands, agencies and creative teams.

Make 2025 the year you wash your sheets, not your campaigns.  The Good, The Ad, The Ugly is available for free at Thegoodtheadandtheugly.com.