With the constantly changing political and social climate, it’s hard to keep up with key events that take place. Each week we compile a highlight of notable events so that you can remain informed about current art, design, sustainability and marketing developments. 

Nature Strip Gardening to Go Ahead As Council Rethinks Restrictions

When Emma Cutting first started her work at what would now be known as The Heart Gardening Project, it was inspired by a desire to nourish Melbourne’s concrete and tarmac pathways and to see her daughter grow up close to nature. That desire would later flourish into an action plan to see the 8km between Westgate Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens redesigned with 18,000 indigenous plants to support native bees and pollinators. 

But those planned threatened to be halted by a proposed council restriction on planting gardens on nature strips. Following ten months of hard work, 5935 votes on a Change petition and more than 20 subject matters supporting an 84-page evidence-based document, Emma managed to get the proposals overturned

Port Phillip Mayor Marcus Pearl has now said that the council is looking to support The Heart Gardening Project with ideas to de-pave in order to provide more space for street gardening, as well as the possibility of hiring a part-time community greening officer to encourage and organise workshops and share advice and information to support gardening in public open spaces. 

Emma hopes to complete the 200 gardens in the Melbourne Pollinator Corridor by the end of 2023, and information on how to support or get involved with the project can be found on their website: https://www.theheartgardeningproject.com/melbourne-pollinator-corridor

ABS Data Backs Up Gender Pay Gap 

Data released by the ABS on Wednesday revealed that on average women are earning $263.90 less than men. The current pay gap stands at 14.1%, which is 0.3 percentage points higher in the last six months. To put this into perspective, full-time working women must work 60 days extra to earn the same amount as a man. 

With the rising cost of living and inflation leading to increased costs of living, the disparity in pay is forcing many women to work several jobs, reduce savings for house deposits, emergency needs and children’s educations, and to spend less on discretionary purchases - resulting in the economy suffering. 

The pandemic forced many women to either lose their jobs, work part-time or prioritise domestic duties over their careers. As businesses open up and struggle to find workers to fill job openings, employers need to take the initiative to create work environments that fully accommodate the needs of working women (as well as working mothers) and to conduct pay gap audits to find opportunities for improvement.

Ogilvy PR’s Future 6 Report

The ‘Alchemy, Avatars and Altered Authority’ report by Ogilvy documents the shift from traditional one-way marketing to a landscape where co-creation and collaborative engagement, fueled by technological advancements, is becoming the norm. The report looks at 10 key trends across four different chapters – Altruism, Authors, Avatars and Altered Authority. Some key shifts highlighted in the report include:

• Altruism - Trends in purpose marketing where brands are forced to reevaluate their understanding of their place in the world, and adjust how they operate accordingly. With the understanding that brands should stand behind political and social movements, many businesses are now integrating purpose-driven marketing into their strategies for the long-term. 
• Authors - The change in the role of consumers as passive and receptive to collaborative and involved in a brand’s story, in line with the rise of social media platforms and more recently, the metaverse, that create new and different opportunities for brand-customer interactions. 
• Avatars - The opportunities for consumers to explore alternate identities in the digital space, and giving brands the opportunity to lean into new possibilities. 
• Altered Authority - The increasing responsibility of brands to step up into an altered sense of authority as governments struggle to deal with increasingly complex problems around the world. 

Ogilvy PR’s CEO Richard Brett believes that the shift away from traditional ‘push’ marketing is as a result of greater technological advancements that break down the wall between brands and consumers. The findings in this report are built from works showcased at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Dark Mofo, Semi Permanent, TEDx and Nudgestock.

The full report can be found through Ogilvy PR’s website: https://www.ogilvypr.com.au/futures