4 Essential Summer Reads for the Latest in Digital Advertising Sustainability

By Audrey Danthony

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With the warm weather well and truly here, I thought I’d share some essential summer reading. Interested in keeping up with the latest in sustainability in the world of marketing and digital advertising? Look no further!

There’s something for everyone in the publications below. And each features input from a member of the Impact Plus team (so look out for us as you read through them!).

I hope you find these informative and that they’ll help you integrate sustainability into your upcoming projects.

1. Marketers: Discover 10 Key Actions To Reduce Direct Carbon Emissions with the ANZ Sustainability Quick Action Guide

The world’s first guide to sustainable media for advertisers, the ANZ Sustainability Quick Action Guide, is well worth a read. This groundbreaking guide, unveiled at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in mid-June 2023, provides advertisers with actionable steps to reduce the direct carbon emissions of their advertising activities (both digital and traditional).

With a focus on 10 key areas across planning, buying, and activation, the guide empowers advertisers and their agencies and tech partners to play their part in meeting the Paris Climate Goals and limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.

Developed by the GARM Sustainability Steer Team, which includes renowned brands and industry bodies such as Diageo, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, ISBA, WFA, and the Responsible Marketing Agency (among others), it has since been taken over by by Ad Net Zero. The guide consolidates best practices in media sustainability.

You’ll also notice input from Impact Plus: we provided insights on the environmental benefits to be garnered from optimising creative assets and considering the duration of digital creative formats. To discover the the full GARM Sustainability Quick Action Guide, click below to access the full report.

Read the Full Report

2. Programmatic: Get the Latest on Eco-Friendly Media Buying from Alliance Digitale & IAB France

Specifically for programmatic media buyers, this comprehensive resource published in April 2023 provides advertising best practices for a more sustainable future.

Programmatic digital advertising poses significant environmental challenges, stemming from energy-intensive computer servers and ever-increasing data traffic.

To combat these issues head-on, the guide presents a set of recommendations structured around six key principles:

  1. Eliminate wasted advertising impressions and unnecessary data
  2. Activate low-carbon targeting strategies
  3. Distribute lighter creatives and formats
  4. Choose responsible tools for your campaigns
  5. Embrace sobriety in your technological approach
  6. Measure the carbon footprint of your advertising campaigns

Delve into the full report to uncover actionable insights and discover how you can make a lasting impact. Click below to access the complete guide.

Read the Full Report

3. AdTech Tech Teams: Sustainable media practices from IAB Tech Lab

Next on my list of summer reads, is “The Sustainability Playbook,” a groundbreaking resource also developed with some input from Impact Plus.

This playbook, introduced by IAB Tech Lab’s Sustainability working group, aims to promote sustainable media practices in programmatic advertising, and is particularly relevant to tech teams within programmatic AdTech.

In a world where carbon reduction is paramount for brands and audiences, this playbook provides comprehensive guidance to both buyers and sellers in the digital advertising industry.

For the sell-side, the guide suggests measures such as limiting multi-hop resellers and cookie syncs, implementing persistent identifiers like Global Placement ID (GPID), and using preferred paths. Buyers are encouraged to reduce duplicative requests, leverage interoperable IDs, and support pod bidding, among other recommendations.

The guide is a valuable resource in starting down the road to reducing carbon in programmatic ad tech by providing clear and feasible steps to implement now. It’s a unified map for the industry’s ongoing journey.

Read The Sustainability Playbook

4. Get Forrester’s insights on creating a greener marketing ecosystem

Impact Plus is quoted several times in Forrester’s new report ‘Toward A Greener Marketing Ecosystem’.

Discover how the advertising industry is taking on the challenge of sustainability and learn six steps you can take to reduce your marketing function’s carbon footprint.

Click below to discover more about this Forrester report.

Read the Report