Historically, advertising has often focused on reach, revenue, and creativity, but today, it is imperative to consider the environmental impact of every campaign. The shift towards sustainable advertising is not just a trend but a necessity, given the pressing climate crisis and the industry's substantial carbon footprint.
Alex Cheeseman, Head of Enterprise – Northern Europe, at Outbrain, encapsulates this sentiment perfectly: "2024 has become a tipping point for advertising’s sustainability efforts. As an industry that prides itself on its morality, advertisers need to maximise the effectiveness of their ads beyond revenue and reach. Every campaign, ad and partner impacts our growing emissions and encouraging consumers to ‘do their part’ isn’t enough."
Past Efforts in Sustainable Advertising
In the early 2000s, sustainability in advertising was primarily focused on promoting eco-friendly products and encouraging green consumer behaviors. Brands like Toyota, with its Prius campaign, and Unilever, with its Sustainable Living Plan, set early benchmarks. These initiatives were pioneering but often limited to brand image rather than addressing the industry's operational carbon footprint.
The last decade saw a more integrated approach. Agencies began to implement sustainable practices within their operations, such as reducing office energy consumption, minimizing waste, and promoting remote work to cut down on travel emissions. However, these measures, while beneficial, were only scratching the surface of the industry's overall environmental impact.
Current State and Challenges
The recent report from Scope3, the State of Sustainable Advertising, sheds light on the significant carbon emissions generated by the programmatic advertising industry. The report highlights that programmatic advertising alone produces more than 215,000 metric tons of carbon emissions in a single month across five leading economies. This staggering figure is equivalent to over 24 million gallons of gasoline.
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising, while promising for efficiency and targeting, also poses potential risks of increasing emissions. However, AI offers hope. By providing better access to carbon emissions data and introducing smart sustainability tools, AI can play a pivotal role in decarbonizing digital advertising.
Future Directions: Optimizing for Attention
The future of sustainable advertising lies in optimizing for ‘attention.’ According to research from Playground xyz and Scope3, 40% of online ads are not viewed despite being visible on screen. This leads to wasted ad spend and significant CO2 emissions. Optimizing digital ad campaigns for attention time can reduce carbon emissions by an average of 63%.
As Robert Swan once said, "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." This quote underscores the responsibility that advertisers have in this fight. The industry must move beyond superficial green messaging and take substantial steps to reduce its environmental footprint.
Terence Bolsh
Advertisers must embrace attention metrics to ensure impressions are effective and reduce unnecessary media spend. This shift is not only crucial for delivering better business results but also for the greater good of the planet. By focusing on attention, advertisers can significantly cut down on the wastage and the associated carbon emissions, making each ad spend count towards a more sustainable future.
In conclusion, the journey towards sustainable advertising is ongoing and requires collective effort and innovative solutions. The industry must continue to evolve, integrating advanced technologies and adopting new metrics to ensure that its impact is positive, not just for businesses but for the environment as well. The tipping point that 2024 represents is a call to action for all stakeholders to work together towards a more sustainable and responsible advertising ecosystem.
Header image by Kazuyo Namerikawa
Another Opinion
Kevin O'Farrell, Vice President EMEA at Analytic Partners
For too long, brands have gotten away with greenwashing while landfills keep rising and pollution is growing. But with increasing consumer awareness and recent EU regulations to support a better future, there is a new urge to review sustainability metrics that brands must get behind. And we are witnessing a promising trend within marketing. 50% of marketers say they are either already employing measurement frameworks or are working towards measurable objectives in conjunction with recognised external standards, and 76% of marketers say they have engaged in sustainability efforts in the last five years.
In advertising, all aspects of the supply chain need to become more sustainable, including the production and placement of ads which has been overlooked in the past. Creative highlighted at Cannes that almost half of the ads produced are never even activated,creating an unnecessary impact on the environment and our own research has show that rather than the quantity. Integrating sustainability metrics into media planning and reporting can help drastically reduce carbon emissions from media production and placements.
AI can help further reduce the impact by effortlessly adjusting formats or minimizing the need to travel to exotic locations for production. However, brands must be aware that AI itself is a carbon emitter. Just recently, Google announced that its carbon emissions in 2023 were 48% higher than in 2019. So, brands must make a holistic effort to measure and balance all emissions on their way to a more sustainable future.
