Tom Tapper and his agency, Nice and Serious, were ecstatic. They had just landed a massively recognisable client, and everything seemed great.

But when it became apparent that the client was asking them to essentially greenwash, the team had something to say. 

“We were doing a CSR brief for them. But it was clearly Greenwashing, and we just got called out by the team on that. They were saying, ‘We didn’t come to Nice and Serious to do this’.’

That’s when things had to change, and Tom realised they had to implement something to ensure this didn’t happen again.

Introducing The Moral Compass, a democratic, anonymous voting system, allowing every team member to have a say in evaluating client projects and briefs. 

“In principle, the idea was that every single brief should be democratically and anonymously voted on by the entire team based on the extent to which it aligns with our purpose,” explains Tom. 

“It generates a percentage of an alignment score. If it’s 51% or above, we are able to respond to the brief. And if it’s 50%, or below, we have to reject the brief.”​

“It just builds on our reputation as a really authentic agency who’s in this for the right reasons. And if anything, it’s probably strengthened our brand.”

It sounds radical, but it’s something that has greatly benefited the agency, and has made everyone feel they have a say in the decisions.

“It’s not a perfect system, but it allows everyone to kind of voice their opinion, and it gives us something objective,” says Tom.

If you’re intrigued by the way Tom’s agency profiles client projects and briefs, and perhaps even want to adopt it (or something like it) in your agency, then come and join us for this client services session.