Andy Wilson launches sustainability-focused agency

As sustainability continues to be a critical consideration for organisations in Asia today, MSQ Sustain, one of the UK's leading specialist sustainability creative agencies, has announced a strategic partnership with the newly formed Singapore-based agency, Early Majority.

Early Majority was launched in March by Andy WIlson, former head of Ogilvy’s Sustainability practice in Asia. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of sustainable ideas, technologies, and brands, and position itself as a catalyst for positive environmental change. The agency has already begun attracting clients from Europe, UK, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, MSQ Sustain, a division of the MSQ Group, is recognised for its extensive expertise in sustainability, climate change, and purpose-driven initiatives. The agency built its reputation for its campaigns that have influenced policy and corporate strategies globally towards more sustainable practices. Their client roster includes notable names such as The Nature Conservancy, World Economic Forum, and Patagonia, among others. In response to growing demand for sustainability-focused communications, MSQ Sustain is expanding in the Asia-Pacific region to leverage local insights and opportunities for climate leadership.

The partnership aims to offer a comprehensive suite of services, with a focus on sustainability communications. These services include purpose integration and activation, growth acceleration for sustainability-native scale-ups, and communications and social change programmes. The agency aims to differentiate itself through a selective approach to client engagement, focusing on brands and businesses committed to making a genuine positive impact. This approach is underpinned by MSQ Sustain's proprietary 'Green Screen' process, which evaluates a client's intention and capacity for generating positive change. 

“There is a world of difference between creating positive impact and creating consumer demand," Wilson told Campaign of the partnership. "Clients who understand this difference understand that they now require a completely different marketing and communications model, and access to a different set of communications experts. My number one learning from sustainability clients is that they are looking for specialists in this rapidly evolving space."

He also discussed his motivation for founding Early Majority, highlighting the limitations he observed within large network agencies regarding sustainability, arguing that traditional agency models, focused on incremental revenue and client growth, are not well-equipped to address the urgent needs of the sustainability movement. This realisation led him to establish an independent agency focused on delivering solutions to the challenges and opportunities of sustainability.

"As with so many of my colleagues in the industry—young and old—I had come to realise that working at the leading edge of consumer demand and perpetual growth has also meant taking responsibility for the human, social and environmental problems associated with modern progress. I have left big networks because I see the sustainability movement as an urgent rallying cry for fundamental change," he said.

"For me the only way forward is to be unconstrained by status quo systems, and you see this reflected in the seismic shift of new start-ups and scale-ups rising to the challenge of our times. As an independent, I now have the freedom to offer the radically new mindset, capability-set and solutions set that these challenges and opportunities require. At the heart of Early Majority is a partnership model which allows clients to access best-in-class capabilities towards a solution."

Richard Armstrong, partner and CEO of MSQ Sustain added, “The transition to a net-zero economy is the fastest economic transition ever witnessed, and the Asia Pacific region is at the front and centre of that transition. This is without doubt the most exciting period of my career—to be working in communications, helping brands and businesses talk about the important work they are doing to decarbonise, finding the ideas that can catalyse and accelerate change among consumers, policymakers, shareholders and the finance community.

Armstrong continued: "But to deliver on that, we need to be working with the leaders in our industry in Asia, and Andy and Early Majority are without doubt the most knowledgeable, insightful and progressive leaders in sustainability comms. We are very excited to launch this partnership – our skills and capabilities are perfectly complementary, and it allows MSQ Sustain to have a prestigious presence in this key region.”