The IPA president Julian Douglas has published a New Year address in the style of Mark Zuckerberg’s “metaverse” presentation in a call for positive pitch practices, and collaboration on advertiser campaigns.
In a remote recorded speech, Douglas provided updates on the “three pillars” of his “10X agenda”: Tech, IPA and Think.
Pillar 1: Tech 10x
In tech he praised gaming and VR/AR developments coming from the periphery to the mainstream in advertising, giving examples such as O2 going into Fortnite, Fashion Awards in Roblox and Adidas releasing NFTs.
Douglas delivered his speech from Garden Studios in London with virtual production company Quite Brilliant.
He said: “This virtual production approach is opening up a whole new world of opportunities and crucially, significantly reducing travel – the single biggest contributor to our carbon impact.”
For more opportunities to progress in immersive gaming and the metaverse, Douglas announced a virtual conference in San Francisco and an interactive workshop in the UK in 2022.
Pillar 2: IPA 10x ‘back to school’
Douglas highlighted the importance of training under this pillar of his speech.
He said 800 people had completed the new IPA Diversity and Inclusivity qualification and there was a tenfold increase in those finishing the IPA Excellence Diploma in Business last year.
Also, 19 agencies were awarded IPA Effectiveness Accreditation and the AdNetZero Certificate was launched.
Pillar 3: Think 10x
Douglas mentioned food waste was “a valuable failure” as one of the issues the IPA tried to tackle last year.
He said while agencies were “up for the challenge” of addressing food waste, he said ultimately supermarkets were not demonstrating the point: “Good intentions alone are not enough, the urge for change must be real.”
The urge to tackle the recruitment crisis in the hospitality industry is very real as work is being done to raise money and become a trusted partner to help fill 200,000 unfilled vacancies.
10x Accelerate Opportunity
In the coming year, Douglas urged the industry to take on the “Pitch Positive Pledge” to improve the current pitch system that will be launched at joint industry conference RENEW.
Another ask of the industry was to “use its creative clout” to shift attitudes and behaviour towards roadside littering as well as public perceptions of advertising on a category rather than brand level.
