Created by Purpose Disruptors and THINKHOUSE, Good Life 2030 Ireland serves as an invitation to imagine a better, brighter future – one where we live more sustainably, in greater harmony with each other and the rest of the natural world.

The Need to Reimagine

Every day, people in Ireland are exposed to around 3,000 ads – most reinforcing the idea that happiness comes from buying more. But this story is breaking down. Our planet can’t keep up with endless production, and neither can our wellbeing.

Good Life 2030 exists to change the narrative – to reimagine what a joyful, sustainable life looks like, and to challenge the culture of overconsumption that advertising has helped create and sustain. By inviting people to imagine a different kind of ‘good life,’ the project helps build the mindset and behaviours needed for a truly sustainable future.

Surfacing Visions for a Good Life

We began by inviting people across Ireland to imagine their good life in 2030 – a future close enough to picture clearly, yet far enough to dream big. Through a series of creative research exercises, participants shared visions rooted in one common theme: connection. Connection to themselves, to others, and to nature – a shift away from the sense of disconnection that defines much of modern life.

People spoke about slowing down, strengthening community bonds, and building a more balanced relationship with the environment. Importantly, these visions weren’t dependent on high-carbon lifestyles. What citizens said they truly value – things like time, belonging, purpose – naturally align with a low-carbon way of living.

The Time to Reflect is Transformational

“This research has helped me refocus my mind in terms of what I need to do in terms of minimising my impact on the environment, and also appreciating what I already have.” – Research participant

The most powerful insight we uncovered was this: when people are given time and space to reflect on what really matters for their future, it can transform how they live in the present. Today, the biggest barrier to living a ‘good life’ isn’t intent – it’s distraction. In a world of constant noise and information overload, our attention is stretched thin and too often directed toward consumption.

Many people recognised this tension, with 77% agreeing that the advertising industry should help people lead healthy, sustainable lives. When given space to imagine their own future, people acted: 43% of research participants said they had already made, or planned to make, changes after taking part – from volunteering with Tidy Towns to moving to greener communities to raise their families.

These powerful insights surfaced from the research helped to fuel a national conversation about what it means to live a good life – and the role marketing and advertising play in shaping it. It also provided us with a clear call to action for the industry.

Engaging the Advertising Industry

We set out to engage the architects of desire – the media, marketing and advertising professionals who shape how people think, feel and act. Across the industry, there’s growing recognition of the need for change: 57% of Irish advertising professionals say the industry isn’t yet doing all it can to create a sustainable world (24% ‘don’t know.’).

To act on this, we brought together 40 creatives from 10 leading agencies to co-create a campaign inspired by citizens’ visions for a better future – one that shifts attention from consumption to connection. The brief challenged the group to use their craft to make sustainable living aspirational and mainstream.

We also convened the first Leaders Roundtable on Climate and Advertising, bringing together seven senior industry figures to explore how projects like Good Life 2030 could reshape the sector. Key themes emerged: responsibility, collaboration, alignment of values, and the urgent need for clearer policy and standards.

Connection over Consumption: The ‘Less Buying, More Being’ Campaign

For the first time, Ireland’s advertising industry united for climate action by launching a national campaign championing connection over consumption: “Less Buying, More Being”. Timed deliberately for Black Friday, it flipped one of the year’s biggest shopping moments into a surprising call for reflection. Its messages – “Less buying, more being,” “Less shopping sprees, more native trees,” and “Less fast pace, more open space” – offered an alternative vision of what a good life could mean. The campaign tagline is signed off with the unifying call: “Let’s advertise a better life.”

The campaign ran across print, cinema, radio, outdoor, and digital channels for three months, reaching an estimated 3.5 million people (80% of Ireland’s population), thanks to the support of ten major media partners.

Learnings: Industry Shift in Motion

The Good Life 2030 campaign has had a deep influence on the professional values and behaviours of participants in the project – driving not just awareness, but an expressed commitment to environmental action and cross-industry collaboration.

“What surprised me was how philosophical my peers, across the agency landscape, can be when given the opportunity and encouragement to have a conversation about climate.“ Agency Leader

“What surprised me most about working on this project was the depth of its message and the emotional resonance it carried. It wasn’t just another campaign. It challenged societal norms and encouraged people to rethink their relationship with consumerism. That, for me, was incredibly refreshing and rewarding to be a part of.”                                                                     Creative Participant

Professional Impact

The campaign created meaningful shifts within the advertising and marketing community:

• 94% of participants agreed, “I want to spend more of my time at work promoting pro-environmental values.”
• 100% of participants agreed, “I want to spend more of my time collaborating with others in the industry to promote pro-environmental values.”
• 88% of participants agreed, “I am likely to make significant changes to my career to help accelerate environmental progress e.g. opening up conversations internally, opening up conversations with clients, refusing and seeking out certain briefs, changing roles or organisations.”

These results show that Good Life 2030 Ireland didn’t just raise awareness –  by prompting internal reflection, peer dialogue and bringing leaders together, it catalysed a deeper sense of purpose and collective responsibility across the industry.

Cultural and Public Impact

The project also sparked widespread public engagement, generating over 30 pieces of earned media and reaching more than 1,000 people directly through talks and events.

Nationally representative research^[1] confirmed the campaign’s resonance:

• 11% of adults recalled seeing the campaign — rising to 29% among under-25s.
• 58% said it gave them confidence that they don’t need to buy things to feel happy.
• 57% said it inspired them to see sustainable behaviours as desirable.
• Just over half said it made them feel more capable of making sustainable lifestyle changes.

Good Life 2030 has demonstrated the potential for greater industry impact in the space of climate communications, revealing how the right kind of storytelling can reorient us toward a more sustainable future.

^[1]  IPSOS B&A online barometer between 6th – 17th February 2025 achieving a national representative sample of n=1,042 adults 16+.

Three things we’d love to do next

Project Good Life will continue to be a core pillar of work at Purpose Disruptors. Building on its momentum in Ireland we’d love to:

1. Expand the ‘Citizen Vision’ conversation.

Build on our existing research to spark a wider national dialogue about the kind of good life people in Ireland want to create and live – and what’s stopping them. This expanded conversation on the ‘Good Life Gap’ could help inspire and inform policymakers, politicians and public bodies – supporting decisions that make life better for people and the planet, now and into the future.

2. Engage and inspire the next generation of creatives.

Collaborate with young talent across Ireland’s creative industries through a new, innovative Good Life brief. This would help embed pro-environmental values, creativity and collaboration more deeply into the culture and practice of advertising and marketing.

3. Expand the success of ‘Less Buying, More Being.’

Develop a follow-up campaign aimed at younger urban audiences – particularly affluent 18–30-year-olds in Dublin-  who are most exposed to consumerist culture and values (and have the resources to act on them) at a formative moment in their lives. This campaign would aim to help them imagine and embrace their own vision of a lower-carbon good life, rooted in connection.

Conclusion

Good Life 2030 Ireland reinforced how creativity can be a powerful force for transformation – capable of reconnecting us with ourselves, each other and the rest of the natural world. As an industry, advertising has enormous power and responsibility to redefine the story of the good life – away from overconsumption, towards connection. There is still lots of work to do to guide our civic imagination and cultural infrastructure in this direction, but this project has opened up a fertile path forward.

Credits: 

Explore the Good Life 2030 campaign here.

The full ‘Citizen Vision’ report is available to download and read here.

Watch the  full ‘Leaders Roundtable’ here.

Collaborating agencies and media companies included:  Bonfire, CORE, Droga5, Folk VML, Havas, Publicis Dublin, The Public House, THINKHOUSE, TBWA/Bolt, Verve/Showrunner, GroupM,  Pearl & Dean, Mediahuis, Global, Talon, News Ireland, Irish Times, Urban Media, and Bauer Media Audio Ireland.

Good Life 2030 Ireland was made possible with support from Creative Ireland through the Creative Climate Action fund.