Innocean Australia and Paper Moose have unveiled a new initiative, the 'Love Our Work' Charter, aimed at promoting more positive dialogue within creative communities. The charter was conceived following a study titled 'Drop the Shade', which revealed that negative feedback was adversely affecting talent retention and discouraging new talent.

The study found 77% of respondents wanted to eliminate anonymous commentary from industry publications. In response, the 'Love Our Work' Charter calls on agencies, production companies, trade press, and individuals to help inject some positivity and pride back into discussions about the industry’s creative output.

Creative Director at Paper Moose, Jeremy Willmott, expressed his support for the initiative.

"Having seen, first hand, the impact thoughtless comments about work can have on someone’s career, let alone how it affects me personally, I’m proud to be helping do something about it. Our mission is to drive meaningful, constructive conversations that help make our work better and we’d love the industry to join us," he said.

Innocean CEO, Jasmin Bedir, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the industry's struggle with attracting and retaining talent, mental health issues, and a lack of inclusivity and diversity. "Toxicity amongst ourselves makes this multi-billion dollar industry smaller. I feel like this charter is the perfect public statement from all of us that sets the bar for how we should conduct ourselves. I don’t see how anyone that runs a business in this industry wouldn’t want to support it."

Wez Hawes, Innocean Executive Creative Director, emphasised the need for healthy, constructive feedback. "In Australia, anonymous negativity, trolling and vitriol are still readily tolerated in our industry, when we all know the harmful effects and mental health issues associated with this type of ‘feedback’. The ‘Love Our Work’ Charter is merely setting standards for us all to do this in a healthy, constructive way."

Nick Hunter, Founder & CEO of Paper Moose, underscored the importance of constructive criticism and the manner in which feedback is delivered. "This is a journey for all of us and we need to collectively as an industry get better. Celebrating the work and giving people the tools on how to deliver feedback is that first step."

The trio added 'Love Our Work' Charter represents an attempt to unite the industry in lifting each other up, rather than tearing each other down.