The topic of sustainability across businesses seems to be like a shadow – always present but lurking on the periphery, never quite taking the spotlight, an afterthought more than a central tenet, a bolt on to strategy or operations or organisational design.
Having said that, clearly today there is more pressure and more focus on sustainable principles across the core operations of a business than ever before, and Paid Media is absolutely no exception. In fact, the achievement of long-standing sustainable targets can often live or die by the choices made in a Paid Media plan.
One of the most fundamental, underpinning values of The Honeybee Group, is to build long-term, sustainable success. This isn’t just sustainability through the lens of keeping a company alive, it’s sustainability in the sense of incorporating ethical responsibilities into the heart of the Performance Marketing process to deliver better outcomes for the stakeholders of the planet, not just the business.
Why is Paid Media Important for Sustainability?
We don’t want to deal in over used cliches, but sustainability is no longer a nice to have. Putting aside the overarching responsibility we all have for our shared planet and moving back into the boardroom, it’s clear that consumers are increasingly conscious of the environmental and societal impact of their purchases, and brands who fail to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability will find themselves increasingly marginalised.
The Paid Media channels in which a brand operates, from Google to Facebook to Instagram and all the many programmatic and traditional platforms that sit between, play a crucial role in shaping perception, pulling sustainability from the shadows and into a leading role.
This also represents a shift in KPIs – as well as the traditional measures of success like ROI or CTR% or CPA, we need to factor in the broader implications of our advertising practices, from the carbon footprint of digital campaigns to the ethical considerations of data usage, audience targeting and publisher supply chains. Here’s a few things to consider:
Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Digital Advertising
None of us are naïve enough to think digital advertising is all woodland creatures and fresh air; while intangible to a degree, there’s a significant carbon footprint associated to the online world. Whether energy to power data centres, maintain servers or transmit data, it all adds up to be a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions on an ever-growing scale.
While your campaign might seem irrelevant in the general scheme of things, it’s actually all about minimising waste and enhancing efficiency. Not only does this make your investment more effective, it applies sustainability best practice, making it a win/win scenario.
Energy Efficient Platforms: Partner with ad networks, platforms and agencies who use renewable energy sources to directly reduce your carbon footprint. Google and Facebook have made huge strides in this space while agencies such as Mindshare have been ahead of the game for several years in terms of powering their enormous global output.
Optimised Ad Delivery: Utilise the data available to target ads more effectively; reducing impressions may seem like a drop in the ocean but multiply this by millions and millions of ad campaigns and the cumulative effect is huge. Energy consumed by unnecessary ad delivery is the archetypal low-hanging fruit (or low hanging pixels).
Sustainable Creative Production: Whether videos, images or animations, creative production can be a substantial drain on energy. Work with your creative partners to minimise waste across the production process, utilise energy efficient tools and where possible, repurpose content to extend it’s lifecycle.
Using Data Ethically
Depending on how you view it, we are either blessed or cursed with the myriad of data available to us today. There’s no doubt data is king, but the collection and use of data continue to raise important ethical considerations. Consumers are increasingly concerned and more proactively involved in data decision making, with a slip from the advertisers side being a potential disaster for the reputation of a business.
Being transparent is the first step and adopting responsible data practices follows; obtaining explicit consent for data collection and ensuring alignment to privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA should never be deprioritised – it’s a simple way to build trust with audiences, a factor that’s no less than essential in an increasingly privacy conscious world.
Privacy-First Targeting: As privacy regulations become more stringent, it’s crucial to adopt a privacy-first approach to audience targeting. In a nutshell, this means only using data that’s collected with explicit user consent and being very clear on how that data will be used in ad targeting.
Inclusive Targeting Strategies: Being sustainable in Paid Media is also about social responsibility; ensuring your ads reach diverse audiences and don’t perpetuate stereotypes or can be interpreted as discriminatory is essential. It sounds illogical that this wouldn’t always be the case, but many businesses fail to consider a wider demographic.
Ethical AI-Usage: The increasing prevalence and rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Paid Media and beyond has meant ethical guidelines and principles have sometimes struggled to keep up. Being mindful of algorithmic bias and ensuring that AI-driven decisions in targeting and ad placements don’t marginalise any groups.
Sustainable Messaging
We know the content and messaging of Paid Media campaigns are equally as crucial as the platforms they’re delivered on. Sustainable principles should be reflected not only in the operations of the campaigns but also in the creative aspects. This means developing ad creatives that resonate with environmentally and socially conscious consumers.
Of course, there’s a fine line between developing creatives to highlight sustainable product features and outright greenwashing, but referencing eco-friendly products, ethical sourcing or community engagement in an authentic way is completely legitimate and is the key to building lasting consumer trust.
Supporting Sustainable Publishers & Platforms
Another aspect of integrating sustainability into Paid Media is choosing to support publishers and platforms that align with ethical and environmental values. The digital advertising ecosystem is vast, and where brands choose to place their ads matters. By selecting platforms that are committed to sustainability, brands can ensure their advertising dollars support responsible business practices.
We always advise our clients to partner with publishers who prioritise environmental stewardship, such as those who use renewable energy or have robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) values. Of course, performance is a consideration, and we’d not advocate a trade-off, but due diligence can help illuminate sustainable options.
Our Business Case for Sustainable Paid Media
This is not JUST about doing the right thing. We’ve worked with lots and lots of clients and know that anything impacting the bottom line is kicked into the long grass as quickly as possible. However, with the right guidance and support, it makes excellent business sense to integrate sustainable principles into Paid Media and the wider organisation.
Brands that adopt sustainable practices are far better positioned to appeal to the growing segment of eco-conscious consumers and in parallel to that, sustainable planning can lead to greater efficiency, reduced costs and increased ROI. Now we’ve got the attention of senior management!
Our mission at The Honeybee Group of creating long-term, sustainable success has the fundamental principles of this blog embedded into it – in fact, they make up the blueprint of how we approach strategy, planning and operational execution. And if they don’t in your business or agency, then they should…before it’s too late.