Insight

When we founded our agency, we wanted to be a little bit different. You might have read elsewhere why we’re called Rooster Punk – roosters being a symbol of good, heralding a new dawn, and punk being an anti-establishment attitude – but we wanted it to be more than just a name, we wanted it to be a belief. And that belief can be summed up as transforming the purpose of business to becoming a force for good – unapologetically finding ways to both grow profit while also proudly and loudly making the world a better place.

While every good agency does some good – supporting charities, or through pro-bono work, we wanted to go further. We felt that if we worked with clients who had a vision to positively transform categories then we could massively amplify the good we could do in the world. Yes, we’ve done more traditional ‘giving back’ work like helping set up the UK arm of the amazing charity Mellon Educate, and gifted almost 100 free Story Clinics to purpose-driven startups. But where we have had the most effect is telling the stories of clients that are themselves changing the world – democratising funding like Funding Circle, helping money flow for the good of all like Currencycloud, simply helping more people have More Good Days like Samsung, or Funding the Wonderful like Crowdcube.

Real change will only happen when humanity and compassion is put at the heart of business, not at the periphery as a ‘third sector’ or as tangential ‘CSR’ box-ticking. That’s why we always start with purpose in everything we do, finding the stories that link back to how a brand can make meaningful positive change in the world.

Putting humanity at the heart of business

For Rooster Punk this actually starts with helping our team, and our clients’ teams find value and purpose in what they do at work. Through having a clearly defined purpose and also a mantra of “Fun, Fame, Fortune” that structures every company meeting and our company KPIs. It starts with our people, relationships and culture (Fun), then if that’s well cared for we can create great work with our clients (Fame), and if both of these are successful, we’ll make a fair profit (Fortune).

So, what have we be doing?

• Since we founded – with the headline “Unf*ck the planet” writ large across our website, we have actively been seeking to work with companies that champion the environment – from Shair who are working to transform air quality, to Stryde who are helping the energy transition away from carbon.
• We have been working with a Wellbeing expert for some years now, and in the 2020 Pandemic started offering our services to support clients too – read more here.
• Equality, psychological safety and mutual respect are central to what we do – we published a set of commitments around diversity and inclusion here.
• In 2020 we took on Mark Evans as Head of Growth to help accelerate our Unf*ck the Planet strategy – previously he’d been heading up the work of the GSMA to mobilise the global mobile telecoms industry to take action on the climate emergency, setting up the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GESI) in the process.
• In 2018 we worked with the IP Group on their ‘Convenient Truth’ series – with speakers such as Sir David King – now seen as one of the turning points in the City’s awareness of Cleantech as not just an ethical investment choice, but arguably the greatest opportunity since the dot.com boom.

Get in touch

If our philosophy resonates with your business and you would like to work with us, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch and discuss how Rooster Punk can become part of your story and help you make positive change in the world.