Good Grows: VML ANZ teams step out of the office for its annual Worldwide Foundation Day
VML teams across Australia and New Zealand have rolled up their sleeves for the agency’s annual Worldwide Foundation Day, supporting local charities and community organisations across six cities.
This year’s theme Foundation Day theme, ‘Good Grows’, saw VMLers across Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth give their time, skills and resources to causes spanning food security, community gardens, health, homelessness and social inclusion.
The ANZ activities formed part of VML’s 22nd annual Worldwide Foundation Day, which brought together more than 26,000 employees across 55+ markets globally for the advertising industry’s largest synchronised corporate impact day.
Across Australia and New Zealand, teams partnered with organisations including Foodbank, the Rev Bill Crews Foundation, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Fight Cancer Foundation, Choir of Hard Knocks, Green Thumb Farm, Whau River Catchment Trust, New Zealand Blood Service, Auckland City Mission and Innermost Gardens.
In Sydney, VMLers volunteered with Foodbank to sort, pack and distribute essential food and grocery relief, while another team supported the Rev Bill Crews Foundation by preparing and serving meals, packing food parcels and assisting its work with people experiencing homelessness and disadvantage. Employees also donated blood through Lifeblood, while Sydney and Melbourne volunteers put their creative skills to work on a brief for the Choir of Hard Knocks. A month-long office food drive will collect additional donations for OneMeal.
In Melbourne, the team volunteered with Fight Cancer Foundation, helping maintain accommodation for patients and families who travel long distances for cancer treatment. VMLers also donated blood through Lifeblood and joined Sydney colleagues in supporting the Choir of Hard Knocks through a creative and website brief.
The Perth office came together with Foodbank, sorting, packing and distributing essential food and grocery relief for schools, charities and families in need, while Brisbane headed outdoors to Green Thumb Farm, a not-for-profit educational community farm, helping with everything from harvesting and planting to garden maintenance, bed preparation and seed sowing for school garden packs.
Across the Tasman, Auckland volunteers joined Whau River Catchment Trust to plant native trees and support healthier local waterways, while other VMLers donated blood through New Zealand Blood Service. The office also ran a food drive for Auckland City Mission, supporting people experiencing poverty, homelessness, hunger and isolation.
In Wellington, the office spent the day at Innermost Gardens, a multicultural community permaculture garden, getting hands in the soil and helping with garden maintenance.
Says Paul Bradbury, CEO, VML ANZ: “Foundation Day is one of those days that really shows what VML is about. Across Australia and New Zealand, our teams found very different ways to contribute. ‘Good Grows’ is a simple idea, but you can see it in action across every one of our offices: people giving their time to organisations doing important work in the communities we’re part of.”
Says Jon Cook, Global CEO, VML and WPP Creative: “Every year, I’m inspired by joining more than 26,000 VMLers around the world to step up for the communities we call home. It’s a powerful reminder that our impact isn’t limited to the work we do for clients – it’s in the lives we touch and the causes we champion together.”
VML Worldwide Foundation Day has brought employees together to support their local communities since 2005.
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