16 ad leaders working to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint

Every year, the effects of climate change become increasingly apparent. Warmer global temperatures are already leading to extreme weather events, rising sea levels and warmer ground temperatures, threatening communities, habitats, supply chains and eventually, experts warn, the global economy. As such, the ad industry is paying closer attention to the environment in their marketing plans, and brands are reevaluating their own operations and those of their agency partners. But hurdles remain in standardizing carbon emissions measurement, and some agencies are hesitant to fully untangle themselves from fossil fuel companies. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs From reducing carbon emissions in the media supply chain to battling climate change disinformation, the industry has a long road ahead. Here’s a look at some of the agency, activist and trade group leaders working toward a more sustainable advertising ecosystem. Martin Bryan Global chief sustainability officer IPG Mediabrands Bryan’s passion for sustainability began after college, when he spent almost five years apprenticing at a number of small-hold organic farms around the world, learning the ins and outs of regenerative agriculture and green building practices. At Mediabrands, Bryan is working with his contemporaries across the industry to reach an agreement on measurement standards for carbon emissions—the first step to reducing agency carbon emissions. Anne Coghlan Co-founder, chief operating officer Scope3 Using her background in data science from AppNexus in Europe, where she helped create one of the first programmable bidder algorithms for media buying, Coghlan joined a group of eco-conscious developers in founding Scope3. The software development company is focused on reducing carbon emissions in media and advertising. This year, Coghlan worked on the development of Climate Shield, a tool that integrates with demand-side platforms in the programmatic buying process to let media buyers block high-carbon publishers. She also worked with five of the world’s largest advertisers to pilot the program before presenting it last year at the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Marketer Week in Istanbul. Also read: How Coghlan is fighting carbon emissions Jake Dubbins and Harriet Kingaby Cofounders Conscious Advertising Network Conscious Advertising Network is a U.K.-based coalition of advertisers and policymakers working to break the economic link between advertising and harmful content, including misinformation about climate change. In the last three years, efforts by CAN have seen Google stop ad monetization of climate change misinformation and Pinterest change its policies to reduce climate change disinformation in advertising. Jo Fenn Global director AdGreen The AdGreen initiative is dedicated to reducing the environmental impacts of production in advertising. Headed by Fenn, AdGreen put out several reports this year that found that travel and transportation compose the largest portion of ad productions’ carbon budget. The organization offers companies training on how to use their carbon calculator, implement sustainable practices, and work with suppliers to facilitate a faster shift to net zero emissions. Hannah Harrison Chief sustainability officer WPP Much of Harrison’s career has focused on sustainability: first as a climate change manager at retail chain Tesco, then as senior manager of global sustainable development strategy at SABMiller, where she launched the company’s sustainability strategy and integrated it into consumer brands. Now, as chief sustainability officer at WPP, she leads the holding company’s efforts to develop standard carbon metrics and reach net zero emissions by 2023. The company has also made progress toward using only 100% renewable electricity in its offices. Ollie Joyce Global chief chief transformation officer Mindshare As part of WPP’s GroupM, Mindshare has set a target to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero emissions across its direct operations by 2025 and its supply chain by 2030. Joyce has been an integral leader in encouraging GroupM to publicly share its carbon footprint by measuring the carbon emissions of advertising in TV, video on demand, cinema, social media, digital, print, out-of-home, digital out of home and radio digital audio. A partnership with Scope3 leveled up GroupM’s open-source carbon calculator framework to glean more channel-specific data. Gian Carlo Lanfranco and Rolando Cordova Co-founders L&C NYC Lanfranco and Cordova opened their New York agency L&C NYC during the pandemic, and the creatives have been developing sustainability-focused campaigns ever since. The agency partnered with Piñatex, a sustainable leather alternative made from the fiber of pineapple leaves, to offer eco-friendly options to major fashion brands, including Hugo Boss, H&M and Nike. The duo also created a Clio award-winning campaign for Dole that drew attention to food waste by pasting “Malnutrition Labels” on trash bins, trash bags and garbage trucks. Earlier this year, global agency network Serviceplan Group bought a minority interest in the agency. Gustavo Lauria and Marco Vega Co-founders We Believers Lauria and Vega, co-founders of independent agency We Believers, use their work for major brands to make a statement on sustainability. The agency worked with Corona to reward fishermen for “catching” plastic from the ocean. The initial campaign was so successful in Mexico that it went global, paying fishermen in China, Brazil and Israel to catch plastic debris for local recycling centers. We Believers is also responsible for introducing the Eco Six-Pack Ring, an award-winning biodegradable can holder, in 2016. Katie Mackay-Sinclair Partner Mother London Sustainability initiatives have seeped into much of Mackay-Sinclair’s leadership at Mother London. The U.K.-based agency adopted a “Pitch It Forward” policy to eliminate wasteful pitches in favor of chemistry meetings and has encouraged staff to travel by train rather than fly and bike rather than drive to work, when possible. The agency created an animated campaign for London transportation company Trainline that asked people to skip one plane or car trip and travel by the more environmentally friendly rail. More than 500 people a day took the pledge. Duncan Meisel Executive director Clean Creatives In 2020, Meisel co-founded Clean Creatives, a distillation of all his years of experience as a digital strategist advocating for grassroots and environmental causes for organizations such as MoveOn.org. Since then, the organization has been a vocal opponent of any advertising or public relations agency doing work with fossil fuel companies. In the last year alone, Clean Creatives targeted Edelman CEO Richard Edelman with picket signs at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for his agency’s work with oil clients. Clean Creatives also called out ad agencies such as McCann, Oglivy and Publicis through a series of billboards for their fossil fuel connections. John Osborn U.S. director Ad Net Zero Created in 2020 by the U.K.-based Advertising Association, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers, Ad Net Zero launched a chapter in the U.S. this year. With longtime agency veteran Osborn at the helm, the industry group provides annual funding for members who focus on one of the five points in its action plan, which include reducing emissions from advertising business operations, production, events and the media supply chain. Before joining Ad Net Zero, Osborn worked at Omnicom’s OMD and BBDO. Alison Pepper Executive VP of government relations 4A’s Pepper has been integral in creating guidance for the ad industry on greenwashing and implemented the first Sustainability Task Force focused on emerging issues around environmental sustainability for member agencies. Pepper has also acted as a mediator across ad industry trade groups in the search for standardized carbon measurement. She facilitated the 4A’s partnership with 51 to Carbon Zero which gives agencies discounted access to measurement tools and climate experts. Lucy von Sturmer Chair of Creatives for Climate | CEO of The Humblebrag Von Sturmer is a climate communications expert with more than 10 years under her belt of building movements to make change. The Humblebrag, an impact consultancy and training academy, specializes in climate communications, while Creatives for Climate is a nonprofit network of creative professionals using their talents to fight climate change. Last month, Creatives for Climate announced partnerships with Clean Creatives South Africa, climate communications advocate Comms Declare and sustainability news outlet DeSmog to facilitate cross-industry collaboration to fight climate change. The organization specializes in identifying and fighting greenwashing.

16 ad leaders working to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint

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