ABC Australia TV show about advertising, Gruen, turned agency pitches into entertainment. Disability organisation, the Summer Foundation, had added education into that mix. The support organisation has challenged Melbourne B Corp agencies, Good&Proper and Silver Lining, to compete in a Gruen-style pitch that will encourage more Australians to consider sharing their home with a person who has a disability. 

Each will pitch a 45-60-second ad live at Housing Hub’s Disruptive Ideas in Disability Housing conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday, October 6, with the audience voting for the winning idea on the day.    

The brief centres on host and homeshare arrangements. In these arrangements, a person living with disability shares a home with a host or housemate who offers companionship and some everyday support, as an alternative to traditional group homes. The model is well established overseas, where almost 10,000 people are supported in similar arrangements in the UK. In Australia, less than 500 such arrangements are said to exist. The brief also asks both agencies to portray hosts and housemates as equal partners in a mutually beneficial relationship, rather than as heroes or saviours.

“Host and homeshare arrangements give people living with disability more choice about who they live with and how they are supported. But to make these options available to more people, we need more Australians to be hosts and housemates,” stated Jessica Craven, strategic communications and media manager at the Summer Foundation. “We’re bringing the energy of a Gruen-style pitch to that challenge: two creative teams, one brief, and an audience that gets to choose the idea that makes them think, ‘I could do that.’”

Jonny Clow, founder and managing director at Silver Lining, commented, “It’s rare to get a brief that asks you to change how people think about something as personal as home. We’re proud to be part of it, and even prouder to be doing it alongside another B Corp. May the best ad win – though frankly the opportunity to share two great ideas to an audience that lives and breathes this work is already a win for us and for Good&Proper. This project is all upside, no matter who goes home with the trophy.” 

On the day, each agency will present its thinking and screen its ad. The conference audience of housing providers, people with disability, supporters and sector organisations will then vote for the winner, before a trophy is awarded.

Oliver Pelling, founder and managing director, Good&Proper, added, “This is exactly the kind of brief we started Good&Proper for. This wasn’t about throwing a pity party or casting anyone as a hero – it was to show that these homeshare arrangements can be good for everyone involved. We’ve had a lot of fun with it and met some wonderful people during the production process.”

Pelling also notes that Good&Proper and Silver Lining have collaborated on a number of projects over the years, and while there’ll no doubt be some friendly rivalry on the day, the opportunity here is to use a competitive format to make each piece of work better. “More important than winning, we hope our joint contributions help push the conversation forward and encourage some fresh thinking in this space,” he stated.