Year: 2021

Phoebe Dynevor handed Instagram over to ActionAid for Christmas appeal

Stuart Mitchell

On Thursday 16 December, British actress Phoebe Dynevor, lent her Instagram channel, to Happy (13), Margaret (15) and Christine (20), from Kenya, who have been part of an ActionAid project supporting girls across the country to get back into education.   Phoebe recently met Happy, Margaret and Christine, during a video call to learn more about their lives and their journey back to education through ActionAid’s catch-up centres. For the Instagram takeover, Phoebe’s followers will get a behind-the-scenes peek into the daily lives of Happy, Margaret and Christine, who live in Kilifi county, to see how money donated to ActionAid could help young women like them around the world.    The Instagram takeover is aiming to raise awareness of ActionAid’s Christmas campaign #LetHerLearn which…

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Nature-based solutions can mitigate climate change effects on agricultural sector, but market imperfections persist

Stuart Mitchell

Nature-based solutions can play a crucial role in limiting the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector, which faces increasing pressures in both adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, according to a report by the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment (CCFI) at Imperial College Business School in partnership with Standard Chartered. The analysis is the second of a two-part report exploring the risks and opportunities facing the global agricultural sector from climate change. The authors warn that poorly designed solutions could create adverse effects such as increasing…

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Internationally lauded orchestra and opera companies create a silent album in defiance of threats to arts around the world

Stuart Mitchell

Across the world, right now – from Cape Town to Kabul and London to Beijing – the arts are being silenced. COVID, conflict, censorship, loss of funding, displacement – even natural disasters – are seeing to it that the volume is being turned down on one of humanity’s driving forces: creative expression. Pink Floyds’ Nick Mason, Actor Victoria Ekanoye, Actor Stephen Boxer, Violinist and Conductor Pinchas Zukerman, Opera Singers Pretty Yende and Sonnyboy Dladla and more have pledged their support   But in South Africa, two world-class organisations currently dealing with…

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Global advertising market sees record growth in 2021 – up 23.8% to $771bn

Stuart Mitchell

New advertising spend forecasts for 100 markets worldwide show that the global ad market has largely weathered the impact of COVID-19, so far, and is on course to reach a value of US$1trn in 2025, with more than half of this money paid to just three companies: Alphabet, Meta and Amazon. This is according to WARC, the international marketing intelligence service, which publishes the findings as part of its new WARC Data Premium suite. Following on from a meteoric 23.8% rise to a total of US$771bn this year – the…

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Over half of businesses agree that ESG efforts are more about the bottom line than about their impact on the world

Stuart Mitchell

Less than a half of consumers (49%) trust brands that say they’re sustainably and ethically driven in their marketing and branding, or that they are aiming to achieve net zero by a certain date (47%). Similarly, only 15% of business decision makers in business to consumer businesses are completely confident that all the materials their organisations use are responsibly sourced.  What’s more concerning is the motivation behind the distrust. According to research released today by NAVEX Global®, the leader in integrated risk and compliance management software with over 13,000 customers…

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