You may or may not know that Calverts is a co-operative, which means the company is co-owned by our creative and production teams. For 32 years, we’ve successfully managed the business by democratic consensus. The co-op ethos of respect, service and equality is expressed in our relationships with clients, who often testify to the benefits of working with an agency that’s genuinely open, ethical and accountable.

Earlier this week, David Cameron’s Conservatives said they intend to turn large parts of the welfare state – everything from schools to care homes to NHS bodies - into worker co-ops! Within hours of the policy announcement, a Channel 4 News team arrived at our place in Bethnal Green, wanting to have a look at a real life co-operative and get our views on the Cameron policy. You can see the resulting pictures and interview 1:38 mins into the video below.

Needless to say, the Calverts team would be delighted to help the new Cameron co-ops with their rebranding, from honing their public service messages to designing their websites and printing their annual reports. We were really looking forward to pitching to the Metropolitan Police, where we could help them use the top level co-operative internet domain extension, .coop, and register a new domain for them – londoncop.coop, perhaps? Then we found out that the police and armed services are among the services which will not be eligible for co-operative status. Shame.

Building on the hullaballoo, Calverts is also published in today’s Daily Telegraph (about 11th letter down on the web page), where we explain why David Cameron’s misconception about co-operatives puts him in danger of being seen as the heir of Joseph Stalin.

Anyway, here’s that video!

   

Tags: calverts, cameron, channel 4, co-operative, telegraph