Brand experience agency Cheerful Twentyfirst has launched its 2023 CSR Charter, introducing several new initiatives including a revised lead assessment tool which now considers and scores the environmental and social impact of any new work that they take on.
Their 2023 Charter introduces an annual commitment to both publish and offset their operational carbon footprint, the hire of a permanent People and Culture manager, the use of preferred pronouns in agency signatures and the removal of gendered toilets in their UK offices. Cheerful Twentyfirst has also initiated early audit conversations with their event and film production supply chain and wider partners, ahead of a formal supplier review in late 2023.
The Charter was shared with UK and US staff at Cheerful Twentyfirst’s recent London and New York All Hands events, discussed in detail over a fully vegan menu and with showcases from B-Corp certified suppliers.
Steve Quah commented, “Our revised lead assessment tool will help us gauge and prioritize work that nurtures our creative potential, drives continued agency growth and considers environmental and social impact within a dedicated framework. It places us in a wonderful partnership with our clients to support them on more and more creative and engaging briefs that match our ethos.”
The 2023 CSR commitments follow the introduction of their client-focused carbon measurement programme in April 2022, which included onboarding their Sustainability Director, Roxy Erickson, comprehensive reduction strategy training for their Event, Exhibition and Moving Image and Design Studio teams (a headcount surpassing 65 permanent global staff), and establishing their commitment to Net Zero by 2030.
Andrew Harvey, Managing Director, shared: “We have spent the last twelve months observing our environmental and social impact through a much more granular lens, and using those insights to drive actual change. This included completing our first ever operational carbon audit and combating the results with a new project management system that focuses our productions on emission reduction. I’m pleased to say we have offset 198 tCO2e emissions through Gold Standard to account for our 2019, 2020 and 2021 operational footprints, with a longer term commitment for us to significantly reduce our footprint and the necessity to offset.”
Cheerful Twentyfirst’s CSR efforts over the last two years have primarily focused on environmental impact, where they have made massive strides and continue to refine a robust reduction strategy. In the next 12 months, the focus will shift to sustaining their environmental work, and hope to further invest in community engagement programmes and accessibility to the creative industries.
Part of Aeorema Communications group, Cheerful Twentyfirst continues to reinforce themselves as a values-led agency, looking at people, planet and prosperity (profit) as a balanced scale.
