Government and industry partnerships must be mutually beneficial

Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter stressed that any government and private sector partnership to deliver social issue messages has to be a “win/win” for both parties in his stepping down speech as president of ISBA.

Change4Life
The government’s Change4Life campaign

The Government is keen to stretch its marketing budgets by seeking the help of brand and media-owners and Hunter said: “We are happy to explore the industry playing a bigger role here but it’s not about the industry writing cheques to repair deprived budgets.

“There is more discussion to be had to recognise ’win/win’ to be at the heart of any partnership.”

Central government marketing department COI is to be dissolved and individual departments to take up responsibility for their communications under Cabinet Office supervision.

Hunter, speaking at today’s (5 July) ISBA annual lunch, went on to say that clients and agencies accepted the “hard economic realities” that have led to the abolition of COI but the decision was “met with disappointment and concern.”

He pointed out that COI had central position for “best practice in our industry” and the shift of marketing into separate departments could see “a significant drop off in efficiency”.

However, he added that ISBA was “open for business to offer its resources to each main government department.

Hunter is handing over presidency to Jon Woods, general Manager of Coca-Cola UK and Ireland.

Woods said today that exploring partnership with government applied ” equally to the Department of Health Responsibility Deal initiative launched in early 2011, where ISBA and a number of advertisers have already signed up to specific pledges under the Deal.”

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