Let me tell you a story about sausages, and how they changed our business.

In 2020, the team at Hell Yeah! were struggling to crack a brief. It was for sausages. Not fancy, organic, small batch, free range sausages. Just your standard bangers.

We battled with it for weeks. And then, our ECD and co-founder Dulcie said: the problem is: I don’t really want to sell more of these sausages. 

The issue for the team boiled down to this: ultimately, we didn’t believe in what we were selling. We weren’t aligned with the client and where they were heading, didn’t feel the world would be a better place with more of these sausages in it. This brief changed our business. It was the final time we pitched for a brand that we didn’t really believe in.

Perhaps you think that a good salesperson should be able to sell anything. Coals to Newcastle and all that.

But for us - and I suspect many in advertising, there’s a distinct discomfort with selling more of something that doesn’t really make the world the place you hope it can be.

Perhaps that’s why we’re seeing so many lacklustre purpose campaigns, for pretty much everything. Purpose campaigns aren’t for those brands with a natural mission to improve the world any more. Advertising is sticking purpose on the outside of chocolate, fizzy drinks and even fossil fuels. You name it. A way for everyone to feel that they’re doing good somehow. Adlander guilt. I really get it.

For us, the ‘sausages’ story crystallised something we’d been grappling with - about squaring advertising and the increased consumption that it’s designed to create with how we want our business to be.

We realised that advertising can be a force for good if you believe in what you’re selling. Sell more of the good stuff - and you crowd out the bad. 

We are explicit about this process, setting an intention and communicating it right through to the pitch, where we tell the client why we want to see more of their product in the world. 

Now, we know that we only want to work with brands that fit this mould. To make brands that are already doing good go further. Good doesn’t always have to be environmental - there are other things to consider. But we have to believe in it. More heart  = better work, and selling more becomes the genuine brand purpose. 

Advertising effectiveness, when you look at it this way, isn’t just about sales. It’s about sales, and how selling more can genuinely make the world a better place.