Working for WWF - Part 1

After almost 10 months, I finally got the urge to start writing this long delayed blog. As you might know by now, I'm a lousy blog writer. Too slow. Shallow content. Too much biking stuff. Ok granted, but its fun anyway... especially going over the old blogs and figuring out why I was thinking that way months back.

Just so you know that this isn't entirely a bikiing blog, I've decided to write about my new job, even if it isn't that new anymore. It has been an amazing 10 months working for WWF. When I walked into this job I was determined to keep an open mind and to try not to let my first impressions take over. But I must admit that it's not been easy adjusting...

First off is the NGO paradigms. Chuck out the old capitalist mindset that profit and greed is good.... we're talking triple bottomline here. The 3 Ps. It's no longer just Profit; you gotta think about People and the Planet. Some call it the Economic, Social and Environment bottomlines. After a month or so working with WWF, I felt like a sinner headed for hell and trying very hard to be saved. I recall one incident that struck me. I was driving along EDSA with Susan, and we saw one of those roving billboards mounted on a truck. It was advertising Manila Ocean Park, a marine park that was about to open which we were partnering with. My first thought was that it was a good move for MOP. It showed they were confident about their market and that they were bravely investing in good marketing. Typical thoughts coming from a marketer who's been in this communication business for more than 20 years. But good old Susan goes, "That's terrible! Can you imagine all the CO2 they're emitting? We have to call them and tell them to stop this." I burst out laughing until I realized she wasn't joking. All throughout my career, I've always had this attitude that the world was full of "lesser evils" that we had to swallow. I've been a fan of advertising for all my life and for all its ubiquitousness and even intrusive nature, I felt it was a necessary part of business that people had to accept (and frankly enjoy).

I thought about it hard and realized that Susan was right. This climate change thing is no longer some theory concocted by some obscure doomsday scientist. And it's not one of those things that will go away if we don't think about it. Every little bit counts. Tolerating wastefulness and inefficient use of fossil fuels is like throwing out garbage out of your car and saying, "that's ok. It's a small part of the gazzilion tons of garbage the city produces every day."

More on this in Part 2.