Sometimes you just want to change things. That's why I enjoy teaching: it's one of the few times I feel as though I'm giving something back; actually contributing to the wellbeing of society. A lot of the stuff I tell my students is not about media and marketing - it's about life. I'm preparing them for the brutal world of work.
As the economic crisis maintains its icy grip on Europe, some people are trying to change things. And some of them are advertising people. One of my favourite agencies, Armando Testa in Italy, has teamed up with the newspaper Corriere della Sera and the SDA Bocconi school of management in an attempt to kick some life into the Italian economy. They've launched a competition called «New ideas for a new start». Young entrepreneurs submit their business ideas to a website and the best ten will be brought to life with funding from the sponsors. They'll also get training in communication and management.
As the agency says, countries are full of people with good ideas and no support. Yet growth requires jobs and confidence. As Alberto Grando, the director of SDA Bocconi, says, the competition has a symbolic value because it sends out a message «that a country can trigger growth». It's an ambitious idea, but with apologies to Bill Bernbach, right now we're not going to get anywhere by thinking small.
