Common Ventures creates online resource for marketers to fix ‘purpose washing’
Creative agency Common Ventures has launched an online resource to help creatives and marketers turn their good intentions into great campaigns.
With the belief that building meaningful advertising takes more than clever copy and curated imagery, Common Ventures’ ‘The Good, The Ad, The Ugly’ aims to fix ‘purpose washing’ – where talk of having a purpose is not backed up with meaningful actions.
According to recent research, almost three quarters of consumers are getting tired of brands pretending they want to help society – when in reality they just want to make money. Common Ventures’ mission works to change that, by tackling the complexities of race, gender, environment, and LGBTQIA+ and helping brands face social pressures in a more effective way.
“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,” said Common Ventures’ co-founder and creative director, Jane Burhop.
“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.”
The agency 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.
“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,” Brian Merrifield, co-founder and ECD at Common Ventures, added.
“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’ is a free resource available here.
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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