Nick Asbury: The Road to Hell – The Corruption of Purpose

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, says the proverb. Never has that been truer than in the case of corporate purpose, the movement that took over the business and advertising world following the financial crisis of 2008.

Nick Asbury, creative writer, corporate purpose critic, poet, songsmith, humorist and author of the new blockbuster book The Road to Hell, discusses his perspective on how the advertising and marketing business became consumed with the idea of doing good to the detriment of everything else.

We cover the wide and varied reactions to the book from the industry, the rights and wrongs of BCorp, Edelman’s Trust Barometer, the link between tobacco & purpose marketing, Paul Feldwick’s superb definition of “creativity”, Nick Cave and AI and how ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI has switched its purpose-driven goals.