• by Larissa Faw , July 25, 2019

Three agencies are leveraging their talents to help make the world a better place.

IPG's UM closed its offices in 80 locations today so agency staffers can volunteer at philanthropic organizations. '

These activities range from revitalizing Crombie Park in Toronto, Canada to assembling aid packages and boxes for refugee children in Hamburg, Germany to painting and gardening at the London Zoo.

Originally launched in 2016 under UM’s corporate social responsibility initiative, Better World, the agency’s annual day of service is designed to help staffers tangibly represent its core values: care and community. UM employees will share Impact Day content on social media using hashtags #UMBetterWorld and #UMImpactDay.

"Impact Day has become an integral part of the DNA at UM, bonding employees to each other, to the agency and to their communities,” said Anthony Hello, senior vice president-Better World global chair, UM. “By inspiring change and making an impact within our local communities, this day of service embodies the better world we consistently strive to create.”

BBH's seventh annual Griffin Farley Search for Beautiful Minds wrapped up Tuesday after giving aspiring Strategists a crash course in the advertising world.

The hybrid planning boot camp and networking event culminated with 200 people gathering at the Gala Showcase at Facebook in New York City to learn ways to raise awareness for breast-cancer exams. The "client" was nonprofit Get in Touch Foundation, whose Daisy Wheel mobile app teaches women how to perform breast exams. One pitch recommended raising awareness during opening night of the newest season of "The Bachelor." 

Judges for this year's festivities included Hope Cowan, director, U.S. Creative Agency Partnerships, Facebook; Tom Morton, U.S. Chief Strategy Officer, R/GA; Betsy Nilan, president, Get in Touch; Steve Williams, Americas CEO/Global COO, Essence; and Saneel Radia, executive vice president-Global Chief Innovation Officer, RGA.

It launched as a way for those without any Adland experience to gain industry connections because Farley — a BBH strategy director who the agency lost to cancer in 2013 — was a well-known mentor to newcomers. Beautiful Minds now has more than 500 past participants.

Lastly, Paul Venables, chairman of Venables Bell & Partners (VB&P), is introducing a new nonprofit organization to support children's education in India.

The Tribe Rising India will hold a fundraiser gala on August 22 in Marin, California, with the specific goal to raise enough money to build the first English language high school for children of the Santal tribe. "Tribals," as they are referred to in India, are below the caste system, and are treated as such.

Here is more information.

Venables and his wife Annette were inspired to help these children after taking a service trip to Gurap, India earlier this year. He has long been active in philanthropy, including launching the SchoolsRule program to close the gap in education inequality in Marin County. He’s also been a board member for the March of Dimes and is a longtime supporter of ARC, an organization that places people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in companies, including VB&P.