The world has experienced a universal and collective pivot. Never before in the history of the planet has everyone paused to focus in the same way, shape or form on one issue – in this case the Covid virus. While wars still raged and poverty endured, there was one moment when we all had the same concern. We learned a lot: We realized that are more alike than we are different, we always have been and we always will be. This vulnerability provided clarity of what matters to us all, in our collective hierarchy.
At our agency, we took the pause. The fact that we still had some client business to work on in the thick of 2019 was both a privilege and a reason for gratitude. It allowed us to do some important work on ourselves, in the hope that this work would impact our families and communities. We had hard conversations about facing systemic racism, mental health and what really matters to us, to our peers, to our families.
We questioned how essential (or rather non-essential) our work on consumer products and retail was in the face of graver concerns on the world’s stage. But we ultimately arrived at the pride we had in being able to pivot our work, to spend more time with our families, to steer our clients toward deeper values and we had the luxury to build brands that are set up to do greater good in the world. We believe this is how it must be. We must look at the long view – the road ahead. Where do we want to go? What paths do we want to create for our kids, those trailing behind us?
Enter Longevity Marketing.
We believe longevity is the new wellness and that striving for healthier work practices, products, experiences, environments, homes, ethical standards, environmental practices and human standards is about taking at the long view rather than selfishly living in only the now.
These are the concepts that native Americans referred to as the Seventh Generation principal; that the decisions we make today should result in a sustainable world seven generations into the future. The great law of the native American Haudenosaunee confederacy is also credited for influencing the guiding principles of the U.S. Constitution due to Ben Franklin’s great respect for the native American people.
In practice this becomes about building brands that give back – let’s banish this idea of cause marketing as a novelty – it needs to be a given. There needs to be a reason for all the work we do, whether it’s overtly charitable, or on the front lines. If it’s celebrity or commercial it should leverage the exposure and the platforms it builds to weave in the longer view work of living well and leaving a better world behind us – while we make an income today.
We’ve put this into practice in our brand incubator with the birth of sk*p, a line of clean hair and body care products for young people with this revolutionary sensibility of doing well by the world. We are advocating for companies like 2nd Avenue Thrift, who are making the thrift superstore model and the collection of pre-owned product a cradle-to-cradle enterprise and movement that communities can embrace with ease and turn into a habit.
It’s about celebrating all the parents who are juggling childcare, home schooling and their own work – and being real about those challenges, supporting them and setting them up for success. Look how big companies like Spotify are giving all their employees the first week of November off, enterprise wide, to reset before the end of year rush when typically the most accidents, health issues and anxiety occur. By doing this for their associates they just impacted thousands of families affected by these associates. This is longevity marketing!
It’s about setting goals for 95-year olds to have the strength to get up, to lift a cup of coffee, the endurance to walk like the work of Longevity Lab. These longevity training practices are just as important as a 50-year-old’s financial portfolio goals. And on that same premise, it’s about a deeper respect and care for our elderly population. They hold the wisdom; they’ve walked before us, and they deserve dignity even as they may decline.
Let’s get in sync with our ancestors and predecessors and understand that it is not our right to take from this earth, but rather a privilege and we have duty to give and contribute to this earth and life as well – to make it better than it was when we arrived.
This is our work. If we are not servicing clients with a long view, then we are working backwards. All of our work here is bigger than our individual selves. Join us!