Following the recent conversations we have been having around ESG we have been reflecting on how we as an agency need to work to ensure we’re doing the best for the planet, our people and our clients’ businesses.  With the internet accounting for 4% of global emissions, advertisers have to be aware and accountable for the part they play in global warming. As an agency, we act as the gatekeepers between advertisers and media owners so are well positioned to ensure both sides have sustainability on their radar. 

 The first step is to ensure our own operations are as efficient as possible. We’re proud to have recently achieved our FuturePlus accreditation – enabling us to both track our current performance but also set goals to continually improve. In order to get there, we need to focus on our scope 3 emissions – of which the campaigns we plan and deliver are the biggest carbon contributors.  

This has led us to open conversations with all our partners about how to reconcile the absolute need for performance whilst being as sustainable as possible. In order to do so, we need a robust carbon measurement framework that we can include on every plan with recommendations on how to off-set. The ultimate goal, however, is to be able to choose media providers that align with business performance goals and deliver unrivalled effectiveness, whilst being as carbon light as possible. 

Working with effective partners

By building partnerships with experts in the field it enables us to offer smart solutions to our clients. We recently spoke to Multilocal Media regarding its products and specific capabilities around carbon solutions. 

According to Ad Net Zero, advertising generates double the carbon emissions of aviation. Current solutions often compromise performance because they come with incremental costs. Additionally, the ability to find audiences at scale and deliver campaigns is hindered by the application of blanket carbon thresholds. CarbonSmart is Multilocal’s innovative solution designed to reduce carbon emissions generated through programmatic advertising campaigns without sacrificing campaign metrics. 

Multilocal’s proprietary Active Curation process, CarbonSmart eliminates unnecessary bid requests, ensuring effective impression delivery and performance while significantly reducing carbon emissions. This high-performance, low-emission ad campaign solution is validated by Cedara, the leading carbon intelligence platform. 

By utilising win-rate match technology to eliminate redundant bid transactions within the PMP, Multilocal achieves an average of 80% reduction in carbon emissions per campaign, all while enhancing performance.

Audience Curation naturally reduces media wastage by targeting the right audiences in the right environments. This approach minimises the data processing needed to identify and reach the ideal audience, resulting in more efficient and effective campaigns. 

CarbonSmart enhances this efficiency by reducing unnecessary bid requests in each deal. Each bid request carries a carbon emission value due to the energy required for data processing. By eliminating redundant bid transactions, it significantly lowers the overall carbon footprint of advertising campaigns. 

As a result, CarbonSmart delivers impressions and performance while significantly reducing the carbon footprint, ensuring that campaigns are both effective and environmentally sustainable. This meets the increasing demand for responsible marketing practices. 

 

Benefits of working with partners

Carbon measurement in advertising is still in its infancy, with pioneers creating their own carbon measurement tools adopting varying methodologies with equally varied results. In response to the industry cry for a global standard, Ad Net Zero and Garm have release a new framework – setting the standard across the media world.  However, it’s still early days with the calculator currently only covering digital, OOH and TV – but is a step in the right direction.  

In order to accelerate progress, businesses need to share learnings and pool knowledge, yet fears of not having consistent measurement, making mistakes and being accused of greenwashing hold businesses back. That’s why focus on progress over perfection will drive the industry forward and make sustainable advertising not only more accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, but will also lead to more effective campaigns. It’s encouraging to see stories in the trade media demonstrating this, with Ebay reporting their latest digital display campaign reduced carbon by the equivalent of 16,000 kms driven by a car: all whilst increasing VTR% and viewability. 

It’s important this isn’t done in silo and media businesses need to club together to share information, learnings and mistakes. There are mountains of reports, legislation and research coming out all the time so having a network of people across the industry interpreting the findings can only be a net positive.  

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Partnerships with companies like Multi-local will effectively enable clients to compare the performance of their Carbon Smart activity vs their BAU activity: ultimately helping them to drive better commercial performance and be more environmentally sustainable. 

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