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Thomas Kolster

Founder / Author / Speaker
Goodvertising Agency

Thomas Kolster is an internationally recognised marketing & sustainability expert, author and keynote speaker, and founder of the global Goodvertising movement that’s inspired a shift in advertising for the better.

He’s an international keynote speaker who has featured in over 70 countries for companies like Facebook, P&G, and IKEA, to conferences like TEDx.

As author of Goodvertising (2012) and The Hero Trap (2020), he writes for the likes of The Guardian, Ad Age and Adweek. Thomas continues to drive industry change through his active participation in leading forums such as The International Advertising Association’s Sustainability Council and D&AD’s Impact Council.

Thomas Kolster is tagged in 36 stories. Page 1 of 2.
When We Look at the Future of Our Industry, We All Lost in Cannes
When We Look at the Future of Our Industry, We All Lost in Cannes

Marketing & Communications / If we are to safeguard advertising’s legitimacy, we must address our image problem. It’s time we apply our collective creativity to solve our (industry’s) biggest challenges. - 3 months ago

Free Course Aims to Train Advertisers to Combat Climate Change
Free Course Aims to Train Advertisers to Combat Climate Change

Marketing & Communications / Good-Loop’s Good-Media Academy outlines how the ad industry impacts climate change and what advertisers can do to mitigate it. - 5 months ago

Brands Are Missing a Climate Leadership Opportunity at the Super Bowl
Brands Are Missing a Climate Leadership Opportunity at the Super Bowl

Marketing & Communications / A Super Bowl ad can shape a countrywide conversation; but most brands are choosing gutless entertainment — missing an opportunity to differentiate, engage and lead on today’s most pertinent issues. - 8 months ago

Why COP Should Be More Like a Global Sport Tournament
Why COP Should Be More Like a Global Sport Tournament

Circular Economy / It’s time for a new summit where citizens, not special interests, have a say. Imagine if COP29 were more like a sports match or a reality TV show … - 10 months ago

Cannes Lions Was a Climate Kindergarten; Time to Mature the Conversation
Cannes Lions Was a Climate Kindergarten; Time to Mature the Conversation

Marketing & Communications / This year's awards recognized a historic number of climate-related campaigns; but as an industry, we continue to talk in circles. - 1 year ago

Lights, Camera, Climate Action? Advertisers Being Called Upon to Rein in Their Carbon Footprint
Lights, Camera, Climate Action? Advertisers Being Called Upon to Rein in Their Carbon Footprint

Marketing & Communications / Accurately measuring, tracking, comparing and reporting impacts for the process of producing, filming, displaying and running ads will be crucial for the industry to play its part in solving one of the big challenges of our time. - 1 year ago

Pomp, Personalities and Products Made for a Super Bowl with Little Purpose
Pomp, Personalities and Products Made for a Super Bowl with Little Purpose

Marketing & Communications / Product, product, product drove Super Bowl commercials this year; purpose and ESG communication were largely left on the bench. - 1 year ago

The Doomsday Clock Is Ticking on the World’s Biggest Advertising Festival
The Doomsday Clock Is Ticking on the World’s Biggest Advertising Festival

Marketing & Communications / The heat is on — from Greenpeace protesting Cannes to concerned citizens and legislative pressure — for advertisers to make their work count for more than selling more products to the Western world. Here are six key takeaways from this year’s Cannes Lions, and how your campaigns can be and do better. - 2 years ago

Study Shows Purpose-Driven Ads Fall Short in Gaining, Holding Attention; New Approaches Needed
Study Shows Purpose-Driven Ads Fall Short in Gaining, Holding Attention; New Approaches Needed

Marketing & Communications / Joint research by GfK and the Goodvertising Agency reveals value of 'transformational campaigns that empower consumers, rather than those that tout product attributes. - 2 years ago

Secrets for Effective, Transformative, Authentic, Culture-Changing Brand Engagement
Secrets for Effective, Transformative, Authentic, Culture-Changing Brand Engagement

Consumer Behavior Change / To kick off the final day of Brand-Led Culture Change, attendees were treated to a broad series of examples, from a wide swath of experts, of clever strategies that lead to behavior change. - 2 years ago

Forget Selling Products. Change Lives, Instead.
Forget Selling Products. Change Lives, Instead.

Marketing & Communications / The happiness of buying new shoes is a short-lived dopamine kick, whereas finding better ways of living in balance with yourself adds lifelong value. It’s time to create a new offering: Who can you help people become? - 3 years ago

Climate Was the Big Loser in This Year’s Super Bowl – and So Were We
Climate Was the Big Loser in This Year’s Super Bowl – and So Were We

Marketing & Communications / Super Bowl LV wasn’t a year in which brands showed leadership with their sustainability messaging; but after the divisiveness, the climate emergency and the rampaging health crisis of 2020, it was a relief to have a laugh. - 3 years ago

2020 Goodvertising Awards Recognize Year's 10 Most Impactful Creative Campaigns
2020 Goodvertising Awards Recognize Year's 10 Most Impactful Creative Campaigns

Marketing & Communications / 2020’s winners cover topics ranging from calculating product carbon footprints, regenerative farming, healthier food and reusable packaging to DEI, supporting businesses during COVID and more. - 3 years ago

Kolster to Brands: Tout Not How Great Your Product Is, But What It Can Help People Become
Kolster to Brands: Tout Not How Great Your Product Is, But What It Can Help People Become

Marketing & Communications / In his new book, The Hero Trap, Thomas Kolster says rather than promoting what’s good about their company or products, brands need to shift their focus to their customers — specifically, their brand’s role in helping its customers transform their lives. - 4 years ago

Kolster to Brands: Avoid the ’Hero Trap’ and Close the Intention-Action Gap
Kolster to Brands: Avoid the ’Hero Trap’ and Close the Intention-Action Gap

Organizational Governance / Internationally recognised speaker and author Thomas Kolster, also known as Mr. Goodvertising, takes a hatchet to his earlier beliefs around purpose-driven brands in a new book, The Hero Trap. He says the one question brands need to be asking and acting on to change behaviors at scale and unlock sustainable growth that benefits all is ‘Who can you help people become?’ - 4 years ago

The Coronavirus Is Making Public Discourse Sick
The Coronavirus Is Making Public Discourse Sick

Marketing & Communications / When it comes to Coronavirus, the climate emergency or any other disaster, we shouldn’t antagonize; rather, we should empathise. If we learn to see beyond the tips of our noses and adopt a global empathy, we'll be able to tackle this virus — and the even bigger crisis of the climate emergency. - 4 years ago

Super Bowl’s $5.6M Question: Can Snickers Really Fix the World?
Super Bowl’s $5.6M Question: Can Snickers Really Fix the World?

Marketing & Communications / At least the game was fun to watch, because this year’s commercials make the United Nations’ sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook report seem like interesting reading. This year, corporate America chose to laugh rather than voice an opinion. - 4 years ago

Sell Responsibly… or Else? It’s Time to Face (Over)-Consumption and Come Up with Creative Solutions
Sell Responsibly… or Else? It’s Time to Face (Over)-Consumption and Come Up with Creative Solutions

Marketing & Communications / We shouldn’t lure people into buying more than they need; but rather, help people make it all add up to a more meaningful life. Brands might be able to keep afloat on a short-term strategy and hide behind a cloak of innocence, but every dinosaur step is one closer to extinction. - 4 years ago

SB’19 Montevideo: The Road to a Healthy World Is Paved with ‘Transformative Promises’
SB’19 Montevideo: The Road to a Healthy World Is Paved with ‘Transformative Promises’

Circular Economy / In the first gathering of the Sustainable Brands community in Uruguay last week, change agents from a wide swath of perspectives shared their visions of what’s necessary to course-correct our way to a healthy, flourishing future — and where the power really lies in driving change. - 5 years ago

Screw the Nice Gestures, Advertisers — We Need More Real Impact
Screw the Nice Gestures, Advertisers — We Need More Real Impact

Marketing & Communications / Thomas Kolster provides a behind-the-scenes look from a Sustainable Development Goals jury member at last week's Cannes Lions. - 5 years ago