Trends that got us talking

2023 has been a year full of environmental campaigns of dazzling creativity and breath-catching boldness – and for once I’m not talking about our own.

As a charity with a founding mission to raise the creative bar for ‘green’ communications, it’s incredible to look around now and see how much has changed.

Laugh-out-loud climate ads mingle with furious celebs; challenger brands are throwing down the gauntlet to polluting industries in style; grassroots movements are masters of new social media.

Here are a handful of our favourites, to show you what I mean:

• ?? From Olivia Coleman’s fossil-fuelled alter-ego Oblivia Coalmine to Jo Brand translating science and Simon Amstell narrating an anti-ad, we’re seeing more and more household names not just supporting campaigns, but being at the heart of them. A safe prediction: 2024 will bring us a slew of big-name climate campaigns.
• ?? Challenging over-consumption without looking like the fun police is a tough nut to crack. Hats off, then, to Backmarket for teasing us about the madness around upgrading phones for the tiniest of improved performance. “Trust us”, they counselled under a series of near-identical photos, “last year’s phone will do”. With 28 million ‘spare’ smartphones languishing in our homes in the UK and a mounting electrical waste crisis, the drive to refurbish our tech is more vital than ever.
• ?? A few years ago at Hubbub we filled a Perspex box with textiles to show how many clothes were thrown away every 3.5 minutes in the UK. This year, fashion reseller Vestiaire Collective took a digital approach, showing world-famous landmarks groaning under the impact of our fashion habits. But our favourite fashion campaign was on a smaller scale: Human Touch highlights that behind every garment is a person working with their hands. By covering those hands with ink, they make unique clothes that are also tangible reminders of an industry we pay too little attention to.
• ?? Tony’s Chocoloney are even making impact reporting cool. It’s one thing to be transparent, another to make such an effort to make your reporting pop off the page like this. Speaking of transparency: they did send us some free chocolate, but I promise it’s unrelated (though Tony, if you’re ready this, we’re running rather low…).

Does this glut of great work mean we can move on, mission accomplished? Sadly, far from it. Breaking out of the echo chamber remains a huge challenge: the people most likely to cheer on these campaigns are the ones who already agree with them. But that’s true of all growing movements as they gather momentum. And what’s so inspiring is seeing the ingredients that used to be in such short supply – humour, positivity, great design, relatable language, to name a few – now here in abundance. There’s room in this big, green tent for everyone.

We’d like to think we raised our own bar this year too. Our Eat Your Pumpkin campaign was bigger and better than ever, reaching 18 million people and showing how effective it can be to work with influencers on a cause-related campaign. And #PickYourSide, which put Big Ballot Bins on the street and asked people to weigh in on the Barbie vs Oppenheimer debate, went truly viral. TV, national radio and online buzz combined to give a frankly bananas estimated reach of 10 million people in just a few short weeks. Not bad for a bin.

But at the same time, while others zigged, we zagged. For Hubbub, 2023 was a year of deepening the impact of the work we do with communities across the UK. We supported many more community fridges, expanded our food hub initiatives and funded new green spaces in healthcare settings with Starbucks and NHS Charities Together. We continued to support community-led redevelopment of neglected spaces through Breaking Ground, and enhanced digital inclusion through Community Calling and the Tech Lending Community Fund.

Our focus remains on inspiring and enabling people to take action: through communications, behaviour change, community engagement, innovation, collaboration and more. It’s a unique mix and we think it’s what makes us Hubbub.

I’ve mentioned some of the Hubbub moments that stood out this year. Just one more: winning Charity Times’ ‘Charity of the Year’ award was a wonderful surprise. It’s testament to the creativity and commitment of our whole team, and the trust and support of our funders, partners and champions – of whom there are way too many to name! If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of them.

Thank you, and happy holidays!