M&C Saatchi Group launches life, a global strategic and creative consultancy on a mission to make sustainable living mainstream

Source: Press Release

M&C Saatchi announces the launch of LIFE, a global consultancy that combines a proven track record in sustainability with data-driven communications planning and creativity. The purpose of LIFE is to help brands and businesses inspire and enable people to live healthier and more sustainable lives, and in doing so build value.

LIFE will be led by IKEA’s former Global Head of Sustainable & Healthy Living, Joanna Yarrow, and MD of M&C Saatchi London, Tom Firth. It will work with businesses that are beginning to look beyond just supply chain and operational improvements to consider the role their products, services and brands can play in helping people live better lives within the planet’s limits – and how this can build trust and drive sustainable growth. Clients include The Mayor of London, De’Longhi Group (Kenwood) and a large American consumer corporate soon to be announced.

Yarrow joins M&C Saatchi from IKEA where she was Global Head of Sustainable and Healthy
Living. As an internationally recognised sustainability figurehead, Yarrow brings 25 years’ crosssectoral
experience in strategic leadership, organisational change, engagement, and innovation.
Alongside her role at LIFE, she sits on P&G’s Global Sustainability Advisory Board.
Firth has been with M&C Saatchi for 21 years, most recently as Managing Director of M&C Saatchi
London where he was responsible for leading many of their most prominent behaviour change and
social impact campaigns with both commercial and public sector clients.

Yarrow and Firth are supported by strategic advisors including Sue Garrard, one of the chief
architects of Unilever’s Sustainable Living Brands Strategy and a leader in the field, and Hilary Berg,
formerly Head of Sustainability and Social Responsibility at Iceland Foods, famous for their sectordefining
palm oil and plastic campaigns. LIFE’s work will be powered by sustainability insights
through a partnership with GlobeScan, the leading global sustainability research and insight
business.

Moray MacLennan, CEO of M&C Saatchi, comments: “Our strategy is to deliver meaningful
change. There is nothing more meaningful than creating positive impact for the societies we live in
and the environment we rely on, which is why we’ve established LIFE, which will sit at the heart of
the Group. Our experts have been instrumental in accelerating the sustainability journey for some
of the world’s leading brands, which combined with the capabilities of M&C Saatchi Group means
that LIFE can offer clients unparalleled support in mainstreaming sustainable living.”

Joanna Yarrow, CSO and co-founder of M&C Saatchi LIFE, comments, “The scale and pace of
change needed to avoid ecological catastrophe means sustainable living has to become
mainstream, now. People worldwide want to be part of the solution, but they don’t see ways to
have positive impact in their everyday lives. Meanwhile whilst many businesses and other
organisations are focusing on their supply chains and operations, few are clear on the most
meaningful role they can play to help their customers live more sustainably. And importantly, how
to do so in ways that are distinctive, competitive, and compelling. M&C Saatchi LIFE sets out to
address these needs.”

Tom Firth, CEO and co-founder of M&C Saatchi LIFE, “Sustainability needs specialist expertise in
understanding the nuances and technical issues, of course, but it also needs creativity. Leaps of
imagination to help find lateral solutions to the problems we’re dealing with as businesses and as a
society, as well as creative ideas and stories that make sustainable living aspirational and
desirable. That’s what we’re doing with LIFE - bringing sustainability and creativity together to put
brands at the heart of the transition to a more sustainable and equitable way of life. No one else is
offering that combination right now.”

About M&C Saatchi LIFE

LIFE is a global strategic & creative consultancy on a mission to make sustainable living
mainstream. Blending sustainability expertise with behaviour change & creativity, powered by
insights & analytics, LIFE helps businesses & brands inspire & enable sustainable living and achieve
the recognition, commercial success & momentum that real positive impact deserves.
LIFE sits at the heart of a global network of transformation partners, advisors & practitioners. This
includes Globescan the world’s leading global sustainability research & insight agency, Sitra the
future living innovation foundation, plus academics, universities, NGOS & specialist consultancies.
LIFE harnesses behaviour change, engagement know-how & social impact capabilities from across
the M&C Saatchi Group, drawing on years of applied work with governments, NGOs & commercial
businesses worldwide, as well as new data analytic capabilities.

About Sustainability at M&C Saatchi

The launch of M&C Saatchi LIFE follows last year’s announcement of 12 sustainability commitments
for M&C Saatchi Group. These are:

PLANET

1. We will set a science-based emissions reduction target to do our part to limit global
warming to 1.5°C.

2. By 2025 we will be Net Zero across our own operations (scope 1 and 2).

3. By 2030 we will be Net Zero across both our operations and value chain.

4. We will build climate literate teams, training our staff to understand the latest climate
science and the levers we can use to create impact within existing briefs.

5. Year on year we will grow the % of revenue from planet positive* campaigns.

6. We will offer our creative skills to charities and other organisations that support our
Planet Action ambition to drive behaviour change.

PEOPLE

1. We will evolve how we recruit, develop and reward our people to address under
representation.

2. We will create an inclusive experience where everyone can flourish, perform and
belong.

3. We will use our resources and creative talent to inspire and support people from
underrepresented groups to start careers in our industry.

4. We will train our teams to understand the importance of DE&I and the power of
‘conscious creativity*’ in our work.

5. We will provide routes for our people to have a positive impact in the societies in which
we work.

6. We will offer our creative skills to charities and other organisations that support our
People Action ambition to contribute to a more inclusive world.

More details on progress to date, along with more detailed goals and targets will be published in
M&C Saatchi’s first global ESG report in May 2022.

M&C Saatchi Group is the first global partner of AdNet Zero, rolling out its training programme
across the worldwide Group as well as the #ChangeTheBrief platform developed by Purpose
Disruptors.

About M&C Saatchi Group
M&C Saatchi Group connects specialist expertise, fuelled by data and technology, to help clients
Navigate, Create and Lead Meaningful Change.

This is delivered by a commitment to two core working principles: ‘Diversity of Thought’ and ‘Brutal
Simplicity of Thought’.

The Group operates across five core divisions: Connected Creativity; Passion Marketing; Global &
Social Issues; Brand, Experience & Innovation; and Performance Media. Headquartered in London,
operations span 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and
Australia.

It is listed as ‘M&C Saatchi PLC’ (LON:SAA) on the AIM stock exchange in London.