UM hits the streets, partnering with Clean Up Australia for Impact Day
Mediabrands agency UM Australia took its staff to the streets last Thursday, 21 July to mark its fifth Impact Day, as all its offices took the day to give back to its communities.
This year, UM partnered with Clean Up Australia, as CEO Anathea Ruys said it was important for its team to have a collective impact on such an important day in the UM global calendar.
UM’s Sydney team
Impact Day was launched by UM globally in 2016 as a corporate social responsibility initiative, focusing on its two core values: Care and Community. It spans 36 hours, across 50 countries, 100+ markets and 120+ offices on 21 July, with more than 3000 UM staff getting involved.
“For this year’s Impact Day we chose to unify our efforts and partner with one of Australia’s most well-known and meaningful charities, Clean Up Australia, following the simple logic that when we work as one, we have the biggest impact.
Ruys continued: “The environment, climate change, and sustainability are core issues close to the heart of all UM-ers and its clients, so partnering with Clean Up Australia matched our sustainability values perfectly. We were delighted to donate our time to clean up popular parks, beaches and other beautiful public spaces around Australia to help make an Impact.”
Sydney MD Ben McCallum
UM said the theme for this year’s event was ‘Homecoming’, after two years of celebrating the event virtually due to COVID restrictions. This was the first year since 2019 for the agency to come together in person “to make a positive difference”.
Eileen Kiernan, global UM CEO said: “After two years of giving back virtually, it brought me great joy that this year’s Impact Day allowed us to come together in person – a true homecoming for our people and communities around the globe.”
“Our 3,000+ employees partnered with community-based organisations to do everything from providing aid for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine to cleaning up our natural resources to delivering COVID relief to marginalised communities, and so much more. Impact Day is a beloved and important tradition at UM, and it was wonderful to be able to take to the streets once again as a community to make a difference.”
Locally, more than 250 UM staff across its offices removed several tonnes of rubbish and debris from well-known landmark locations according to the agency, including St Kilda foreshore in Melbourne, Circular Quay and Sydney Harbour, Haig and Turner Parks in Canberra and West End Foreshore in Brisbane.
Pip Kiernan, chair of Clean Up Australia said staff are expecting their employers to show leadership in the environmental area, and that “it’s wonderful to see UM stepping up in a powerful and meaningful way”.
“When we take time to connect with the environment and clean it up, we become more conscious of our environmental footprint.”
Clean Up Australia’s Pip Kiernan
“We’re seeing a real drive amongst the Australian population to take action, we know people want to reduce their environmental impact. The collective efforts of “the UM-ers” have made a real difference.”
Ruys added: “The day was fun-filled and community-focused, bringing together our teams to pick up and remove rubbish in support and protection of our environment. I am exceptionally proud of my team as they worked together, inspiring each other to help build a #BetterWorld for us all to share and love.”
UM had a strong start to the year, retaining ING believed to be worth $17m in annual billings, and Dyson, worth $18m. Two weeks ago it narrowly missed out on the consolidated NSW Government account, which landed with OMD.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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