B&T boarded PwC’s ‘Tenacity’ superyacht in Cannes to hear how WeAre8 can help us to transform the social media landscape and build brands for a better world. Rosie Oakshott reports.
WeAre8 Founder and Global CEO, Sue Fenessey (second from right above) was joined by former England and Manchester United Captain, Rio Ferdinand, PwC’s UK Director, Adam Edelshain and WeAre8’s APAC CEO, Lizzie Young (top left).
The session kicked off with WeAre8 outlining their ultimate purpose; to flip the digital ad industry on its head so that it works better for advertisers and for people.
Lizzie Young explained that in order to flip the industry, WeAre8 must continue to build trust amongst advertisers. Their sustainable ad manager intelligence platform ‘SAM-i’ has allowed the platform to remain transparent. It allows brands to track attention and insights while also showing how much impact their investment is making to support carbon solutions and charities.
Young continued: “But we didn’t want to mark our own homework. We wanted SAM-i to be audited by a third party (PwC) so that we can be completely transparent with brands.”
Edelshain, PwC’s UK Director, who conducted this audit said ‘there are four or five main areas to the audit. Everything from the campaign setup, to measurement, delivery and reporting, and a side piece around ad fraud.’ PwC’s ultimate focus was to “make sure that it is a real person watching the ad”. This report will be available very soon, covering both the UK and Australian markets.
Rio Ferdinand spoke passionately about his association with the network. “I’ve got four kids and one on the way. A huge part of their lives is social media. I have to vet what algorithms are being channelled to them because most of it isn’t great. Doing something with purpose with WeAre8 is my get up and go now. As well as the five kids.”
Fenessey closed the session by reminding the Cannes contingent that ‘everyone in this room has more power than you imagine. The money you have and the money you spend changes lives, and drives culture and society change.’ ‘Let’s stand together and flip this’.
