allegory code of ethical conduct

We regularly hear about our clients’ poor experiences of working with agencies.

We know that we are an ethical business, and we take our responsibilities — to clients, our team and suppliers — very seriously. We thought it might be helpful to set out our own ‘Code of Ethical Conduct’, so that anyone who is thinking of working with us knows what we stand for and how we work. We live by this everyday, and expect to be held accountable. If you like what you read, and want to work with us, or think we have missed anything, please get in touch!

1. We share – we collaborate, we refer work to others, and we believe in the ‘hive mind’. We have a network of agencies and individuals that we regularly work with. We share best practice, come together to provide clients with great results and pass on any work that we don’t feel equipped to deliver ourselves.
2. We believe in equality and diversity – from hiring our team to the words and images we use, we aim to truly reflect the society in which we live. We condemn racism, sexism, homophobia and discrimination on the basis of any individual’s colour, characteristics or background.
3. We care about every client – you won’t find us substituting experienced/senior team members with junior staff. It’s not fair on them and it’s not fair on you. We make sure that at least 20% of the time spent on client accounts is delivered by the senior team, regardless of the overall budget.
4. We pay on time – our staff, our suppliers, our associates.
5. We pay – the London Living Wage (in London) and the National Living Wage (outside London).
6. We don’t offer unpaid internships – we think they are discriminatory and exploitative.
7. We recruit kindly – our processes are rigorous but fair and we never ‘drop’ candidates without an explanation.
8. We recycle, we turn the light off when we leave the room, and we reject plastic wherever possible.
9. We believe in equity for all – in pay, in rights, in service.
10. We take mental health very seriously – we make long hours and out-of-hours working the exception rather than the rule, we ensure people take their holidays and we address unkind behaviour.
11. We train – we develop ourselves and our clients.
12. We invest in research – for every client, campaign and audience. We base all our work on evidence and analysis.
13.  We evaluate rigorously. 
14. We don’t ‘paint by numbers’ – you’ll never see us reusing a strategy. Every client is different and so every strategy is created bespoke.