UNKNOWN, the talent specialist for the creative and tech industries, has launched a pro-bono initiative called Good Brains for Good Brands to help struggling charities fund-raise through compelling creative comms devised by some of ad land’s top but currently jobless talent.
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More than 1,500 freelancers and people furloughed by agencies have been brought together under the umbrella of Good Brains for Good Brands.
The company was set up by Ollie Scott, the founder of the recruitment firm Unknown, together with Cathy Hutton, executive creative director at the communications agency WPP, and Will Townsend, former managing global client partner at Facebook.
Together, they said they hoped they could “use the power of creativity to help those who need help the most”, at a time when tens of thousands of jobs were at risk across the sector, and as it grapples with an expected £10bn funding shortfall.
A statement from Good Brains for Good Brands said its talent pool covered every level of every job across a wide base of skill sets, from college graduates to people with more than 30 years’ experience in the communications and creative industries, including advertising, PR, branding and technology.
As the driving force behind Good Brains for Good Brands, Ollie Scott, said: “We’re keen to provide a place for our talent to go to and grow. A community of do-gooders, if you like. If they get on a brief, and crack it, we will do everything we can to raise their profile. Because we’re here to help, we ensure any work we give to charities on a pro-bono basis doesn’t replace a service that would be otherwise paid for.”
Cathy Hutton added: “When Ollie told me his idea, I just said let’s just do it and get it out there. The UK creative industry is packed with the best talent in the world. In total we’re worth £84 billion and some of those billions are sitting at home in their pants. Linking talent with charity briefs is bound to help both sides. We’ve got a clean accelerator process down too, streamlined with no agency fluff, which protects the work and those that give their time for free.”
