Amy Williams is the co-founder and CEO of ethical advertising platform Good-Loop, which converts people’s attention to ads into donations to charity.
Who is your digital hero?
Anna-Sophie Harling, the European MD of NewsGuard. She is one of the key people bringing truth, education and trust back to the British news industry. NewsGuard’s ‘nutritional label’ for online content is driving the conversation about fake news forwards and is empowering people with all the information they need to make informed choices about the journalism they consume.
In a time of extremism, escalating climate catastrophe and a rising popularity of double denim – our society needs the Fourth Estate, perhaps more than ever before, and Anna-Sophie is clearly very passionate about using technology to protect and strengthen our access to information.
What have she done to win hero status in your eyes?
Not only is Anna-Sophie a well-informed thought leader in a complex and confusing environment, but she’s also working with publications to provide solutions and help them improve the integrity of the information they are putting out.
She’s my digital hero because it’s easy to criticise, it’s much harder to be a part of the solution.
How has her heroism helped drive digital?
People like Anna-Sophie remind us that digital advertising is a very powerful force in society. It controls the flow of billions of dollars online and it therefore fundamentally shapes the free internet.
Advertising has been party to the rise of misinformation online but our industry can also support the fight against fake news and misinformation by funding reputable online publishers, taking swift action against those publishers who disseminate fake news, and supporting public education around critical evaluation of media and content.
What is the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
A major challenge ahead of us, expedited by the change in Google’s cookie policy last week, is the crucial need for advertising to develop a more respectful, equitable and direct relationship with the general public.
We need to stop treating people like targets and start treating people as partners. We need an industry-wide mindset shift, where people are seen as active participants in their own online experience.
We need digital, scalable ways to give people choice and control around how personal data will be collected, stored and monetised.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
The thing I am consistently most proud of is when Good-Loop delivers both amazing social impact and tangible commercial value. Our business is all about using brand purpose to drive better ad performance and ultimately to drive profits.
For example, we recently ran a campaign with Kimberly Clark. Not only did we fund amazing children’s charities like Great Ormond Street Hospital and Tommy’s but we also saw a 45% uplift in purchase intent.
Tangible evidence of the win-win is a crucial step in driving more ethical business decisions and I’m very proud of the small role Good-Loop can play in making that happen across the digital ecosystem.
