This strategic alliance brings together the Ogilvy Africa Network's deep consumer insights and brand-building expertise across countries, with Brands on a Mission's specialised knowledge in social impact and behaviour change. This collaboration formalises a relationship that has already seen successful engagements on several assignments across Sub-Saharan Africa, says the duo.

Through an open architecture model, both organisations will leverage their complementary expertise to develop comprehensive frameworks, tools, and offerings that enable brands to create meaningful social change while achieving business objectives. This joint effort will create an industry benchmark for measuring and evaluating brand social impact – providing much-needed standards and metrics for organisations looking to quantify their contributions to society, adds the duo.

"There are examples of a few iconic brands who're able to align their commercial and social goals in a way that doing well and doing good become two sides of the same coin. The collaboration between Brands on a Mission and the Ogilvy Africa Network, allows us to bring deep domain expertise on both sides of the coin into a unified offering. Together, we wish to see a world where brands make an impact on their societies and win in market, with measurable success to demonstrate on both counts. We're building a model to help brands authentically embed social impact into the core of a business, not at its fringes. I'm delighted to have Dr. Myriam and her brilliant team join forces with our talented experts at Ogilvy," says Vikas Mehta, Regional CEO at Sub-Saharan Africa, Ogilvy Africa Network.

Focusing particularly on under-served countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, this approach will address critical challenges in health, education, environmental sustainability, and economic empowerment, adds the duo.

"Brands have tremendous potential to influence behaviour change at scale", says Dr. Myriam Sidibe, Chief Mission Officer and Founder of Brands on a Mission. "This collaboration with the Ogilvy Africa Network allows us to harness the power of creative communication and deep local insights to design interventions that truly resonate with communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. The brands that will thrive tomorrow are those that understand their role in creating shared value today."

The collaboration also enables the Ogilvy Africa Network to leverage Brands on a Mission's deep expertise in managing the dynamics of public-private collaboration and aligning differing stakeholder priorities, an increasingly critical need for brands operating at the intersection of business and impact. In addition to its convening capabilities, Brands on a Mission will provide technical leadership in behaviour change, social norms marketing, and evidence-based programme design, adds the duo.

The joint approach will deliver tangible resources for brands, including specialised toolkits, impact measurement frameworks, behaviour change campaign blueprints and implementation playbooks. These resources will enable brands to develop, execute, and measure social impact initiatives effectively, says the duo.

With this collaboration, the two teams have kicked-off their first joint initiative to develop a proprietary measurement platform for RoI of brand-led impact initiatives, adds the duo.

Through the open architecture model, organisations across Sub-Saharan Africa stand to benefit from these resources, regardless of size or sector, ultimately helping to address some of the region's most pressing challenges through the combined power of behavioural science with brand strategy. The initiative welcomes participation from both commercial enterprises and public-private partnerships, creating a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders committed to driving positive change, concludes the duo.

For more information, visit www.ogilvy.africa. You can also follow Ogilvy on Facebook or on X.

*Image courtesy of contributor