2000 delegates recently gathered in Cornwall at the Eden Project to discuss and debate the future of Britain. Dubbed by the founder John O’Brien as “The Davos of Britain” the Anthropy gathering was diverse. Representatives from government, NGOs, charities, marketing, advertising and youth leaders congregated to discuss a wide ranging agenda in the cold spring sunshine and in the flower filled biodomes.
There’s much to mull on from the 3 day event, but I’m going to start at the end. One of the final panels on the closing morning was on the topic of “A Vision for Britain: visionary ideas for the UK’s longterm future”. It featured the erudite Ben Page, IPSOS ceo, who quoted Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician: “The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” Gramsci said this in 1929, which makes Ben’s citation chilling.
Ben pointed out that things were better than they were in many respects than in the past, and as a master of global market insights he should know. There are also many intractable problems, problems which great conversations alone will not solve, which is where Dame Julia Cleverdon from the National Lottery Community Fund came in with a thought about how change will come about for the better.
She said that all around the country communities are coming together to make important and impactful improvements on a micro scale. Where government at a national level is unable or unwilling to fix things then leaders from around Britain, city Mayors, local activists, youth leaders and business leaders are delivering.
Is this where hope lies for positive change? Is this where rising consumer power lies? In community action?
“Communities” are not just local. Where once it meant the people around you now a community is not confined by geography or physical proximity. We are in an age of communities, as we live our lives online this enables us to connect with people with common interests that don’t live in our neighbourhood. For every negative side to this, and we cannot ignore these, there are also the positive, life enhancing communities, especially if you make the effort to swerve doomscrolling and look for kindness instead.
In an earlier session BBC local producer and presenter Kamilah McInnis reminded us of this, and her experience as the recipient of a random act of kindness which helped her at a tough time, and which she has continued to promote and to reciprocate.
Networks of kindness are out there and of course so are networks of support and shared experiences. Mumsnet is 25 years old and going strong, and truly the activation of the voices of British mums, who were the silent majority, but who have been loudly giving their opinions on everything since the start of this century. To quote Mumsnet founder Justine Robert’s statement at an advertiser conference I was running in the early years when she said: “If our community likes what you have to say they will tell everyone. If they do not like what you have to say they will tell everyone as well.”
Communities have power, power to influence, power to lobby, power to organise. And not just in Britain but across borders.
At a time when media and business are global in their reach, so too are communities.
Harnessing their power on behalf of brands is simple. Listen to them, hear what they have to say, respond and be useful and interesting.
The new world that is being born is perhaps less a world of individuals and big government and instead a world of community influence and action.