GroupM Agencies Work To Decarbonise Australia’s Digital Media

GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced that its agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, MediaCom and Essence have taken another step to decarbonise the programmatic media supply chain in Australia by partnering with Good-Loop, a B Corps-certified1 advertising platform, to measure, offset and reduce the carbon cost of clients’ digital campaigns.

The market-first digital sustainability initiative is designed to reduce the environmental impact of clients’ media spend and help make advertising better for the planet. It builds on GroupM’s recent announcement of an innovative, new global framework for measuring and reducing ad-based carbon emissions across all five stages of the advertising lifecycle for all formats, channels and markets in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s standards.

GroupM’s partnership with Good-Loop is part of Alpha, its new sustainability strategy in Australia. Alpha represents GroupM’s commitment to shaping the next era of media for future generations of Australians. Generation Alpha is the current generation of kids born before 2025, who will become the largest generation ever. The partnership will establish GroupM as the first agency holding group in Australia to offer carbon offsetting and climate-positive activities across Display and Online Video.

Launch partners for the partnership include Volvo, NAB and Foxtel.

The partnership between GroupM and Good-Loop will mean the implementation of Good-Loop’s Green Ad Tag in GroupM’s programmatic activities for Display and Online Video. In the first stage, this allows GroupM to measure and offset the impact via Carbon Credits2. In addition, clients have the option to go beyond carbon offsetting by supporting climate-friendly activities, including reforestation, habitat protection and coral reef restoration3.

Aimee Buchanan (lead image), GroupM Australia & New Zealand CEO, said: “Sustainability is a pressing and significant concern for Australians and a major concern for businesses and brands. In our ambition to be responsible for shaping the next era of advertising and making advertising work better for people, ensuring that we make advertising more sustainable is key. We’ve launched Alpha, as a whole of business strategy because we believe we have a responsibility to take positive action for the current generation of kids – Generation Alpha4. There is no greater motivation than that. Digital media might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but we know that every ad and every impression has a carbon impact.

“Measurement is key, and ultimately, the goal is to reduce carbon emissions, but giving clients an action that helps solves for the issue is paramount. We can now offer our clients a simple solution to first measure, and then offset carbon emissions from digital media campaigns, and then move towards climate positive activities. Helping decarbonise digital media in Australia is the first step in our Alpha plan. We haven’t solved this complex issue, but we have a responsibility to explore solutions, test and learn, and continue to build and shape initiatives that demonstrate our commitment to making advertising better for people.”

An ad’s carbon impact is related to the size of the files and data transfer required. GroupM has run tests on client campaigns in partnership with Good-Loop, measuring the emissions from online display and video ad campaigns, offsetting the carbon and planting trees to make them carbon negative.

Claire Gleeson-Landry, Good-Loop’s head of investment and sustainable ,edia, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with GroupM Australia and supporting them in their mission to make their media buying less carbon intensive and more climate-friendly. Not only will this partnership enable GroupM Australia clients to measure and offset the CO2 emissions generated by their digital advertising, but they’ll also be able to refine their future media plans all while planting biodiverse trees and restoring coral reefs. Good for profit and good for the planet. It’s a win-win.”

WPP has made the biggest commitment of any holding group to reach net zero carbon emissions by 20305, and is the first holding company to include media emissions within its science-based reduction and net-zero targets. GroupM is working to implement the right measures and steps towards a more sustainable future for its agencies, clients and people.

The Digital Sustainability Initiative is just one element of Alpha, which will also include people initiatives, supply chain management and additional products and solutions to tackle scope 36 carbon contributions across our business and the media ecosystem in Australia.

Stephen Connor, managing director at Volvo Car Australia, said: “I am personally excited by this initiative – it is so in line with our Volvo Cars commitment to being part of the solution to address climate change. Volvo aims to become a fully electric car maker by 2030 and plans to roll out a whole new family of pure electric cars in the coming years, one of the auto industry’s most ambitious electrification plans. This is part of our ambition to become a climate neutral company by 2040, as we work to consistently cut carbon emissions across our business. I congratulate our partner GroupM Australia for kicking off this ground-breaking initiative in Australia. We’re proud to be part of it.”

John Matthews, executive director, customer acquisition and media at Foxtel Group, said: “As our customers make changes to live life more sustainably it is important that brands also lead the way. We’re proud to be working with our partners at GroupM to take meaningful action by measuring, understanding, and then acting to decarbonise our media supply.”