For Dentsu, it's all about bringing children joy

Singapore

"ALL businesses have a responsibility to the community in which they operate and have a moral obligation to contribute support to those that are less fortunate," says Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia-Pacific.

The media and digital marketing communications stalwart's One Day for Change (ODFC) is representative of its global drive towards socially responsible causes.

Held yearly since 2014, ODFC gathers all brands and agencies under the Dentsu Aegis umbrella where staff across 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region are encouraged to step out of the office to help those in need. This year, ODFC was held on May 19.

"Building on our theme from last year, Champions for Children, we continued to volunteer in organisations that have a focus on helping underprivileged children with our staff volunteering in areas including health, education and housing," says Rosalynn Tay, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore.

Last year, 240 of its Singapore-based staff participated in ODFC and together they put in 1,433 hours of their time volunteering in the community.

In this year's drive, Dentsu Aegis staff in Singapore organised themselves into three main groups: Food Army, Helping Hands and Caring Cleaners.

The Food Army packed food bundles at The Food Bank Singapore which were delivered to Thye Hua Kwan Family Service Centres.

The Dentsu Aegis staff who took part as Caring Cleaners headed down to Chen Su Lan Methodist Children's Home and Methodist Welfare Services where they helped clean and organise the homes.

Staff who joined Helping Hands assembled terrariums with children from The Salvation Army. Proceeds from the sale of these terrariums were donated to a number of children's and charity homes like the Singapore Children's Society and Thye Hua Kwan Family Service Centres.

"To be able to give back to society is a privilege and it is heartening to see the entire network in Singapore enthusiastically volunteer their time for the underprivileged children here," says Ms Tay.

"Through ODFC, we hope to instill and inspire a spirit of volunteerism as we continue to make a positive impact on the lives of the less privileged in our community," she adds.

While ODFC represents a collective effort by all the brands and agencies under Dentsu Aegis, individual efforts made by its sub-brands and agencies have also been an ongoing feature, with partnerships with organisations such as World Wildlife Foundation, REACH and Lien Aid.

"We also encourage our people to go out and engage in their own volunteering activities outside of work," says Ms Tay.

With society as one of its key organisational pillars, Dentsu Aegis aims to take up an increasing role in social responsibility.

"We will continue to encourage our people to embrace the role of being responsible corporate citizens," says Ms Tay.