New ‘social impact’ offering Spur:Labs to launch with help from ex-Ogilvy Brisbane MD Russ Vine

Mental health charity Spur Projects is pleased to announce ex Ogilvy Brisbane managing director Russ Vine has joined them in launching Spur:Labs, a ‘profit-for-purpose’ social consulting service that aims to help clients be more innovative with their behavioural change campaigns, social marketing, and corporate social responsibility.

Vine recently exited from the role of MD at Ogilvy Brisbane, an agency that had previously been operating as JuniorCru and which he had headed up for the past seven years. His role with Spur:Labs’ will be business development advisor.

Says Vine: “I’ve helped to deliver some of Australia’s largest and most successful social marketing campaigns in the past four or five years but have always admired the kind of data driven, tech enabled edge Spur Projects brings to its work.

“When I discovered the plan to form Spur:Labs and offer third-party clients a chance for their own campaigns to benefit in a similar fashion, I had to get involved.

“I think the Spur approach is very much the future for social marketing and would benefit hugely any organisation that wishes to deliver genuine social impact.”

Lee Crockford, founder and managing director, Spur Projects, will take on the role of creative director for Spur:Labs and points out the new agency will offer clients a chance to make a difference at two levels simultaneously.

Says Crockford: “The solutions we create for clients will not only help them engage their target audiences in a far more innovative and effective manner, revenue from Spur:Labs will be used to fund Spur Projects’ charitable work.

“Every client who works with us will not only achieve their own social impact goals, they will also be helping to fund our cutting-edge work in male suicide prevention.

“The new offering has ‘profit for purpose’ baked into its DNA.”

Says William Stubbs, technical director: “We got along with Russ like a house party on fire, but it was the fact he was equally passionate about the ‘profit-for-purpose’ concept that had us thinking – this could be something really special, really unique. We believe the world needs something like Spur:Labs.”

Spur Projects – brain child of social entrepreneurs Crockford, Stubbs, and a number of volunteers from the Australian start up community – have been behind a raft of high profile and highly innovative suicide prevention initiatives.

These include maiden venture, Soften The Fck Up, designed to engage young Australian males, and How is the World Feeling?, the world’s largest mental health survey which received more than 59,000 submissions from over 100 countries.

Spur:Labs will have a presence in both Brisbane and Melbourne and anticipates working with a wide variety of client organisations from both the private as well as public sector.