Climate neutrality in the advertising market

How large is the carbon footprint of an advertising campaign? Information about this is provided by the “Green GRP” that the Mediaplus Group is presenting, in cooperation with ClimatePartner and nine media companies. In future, companies can opt for the advertising they have booked to be climate neutral. The Green GRP is an industry initiative open to all market participants which has the aim of offsetting all campaign carbon emissions with certified carbon offset projects.

Around 25 billion euros are involved. That’s how much German companies invest net in advertising. So that this also will be climate neutral in the future, the Mediaplus Group – as part of the Serviceplan Group, itself carbon neutral since 2020 ­– has initiated the “Green GRP”. When planning a campaign, Mediaplus offers its clients the option to offset individually the carbon emissions arising from the campaign. To calculate the emissions that occur in this way as well as their offsetting through certified climate-protection projects, Mediaplus has brought on board ClimatePartner. The Green GRP should be available as an open initiative to all market partners – agencies, media companies and advertisers.

Florian Haller, CEO of the Serviceplan Group, sees Mediaplus as the initiator and instigator of a sustainable movement that should extend throughout the entire market: “It is our vision that brand advertising will become carbon neutral in Germany and soon afterwards will also expand out from there into other countries. The German advertising market is worth around 25 billion euros net according to the German Advertising Federation (ZAW). If we manage to invest an additional one per cent of the money in carbon offsetting and climate-protection projects, we will have achieved an important contribution for climate protection. If all market participants join in, eventually everyone will run only climate-neutral campaigns.” 

The Green GRP should encourage this vision. As an arithmetic expression of a campaign’s advertising pressure upon the target group, the Gross Rating Point (GRP) represents the impact the initiative should develop in the marketplace. The calculation model developed by Mediaplus and ClimatePartner can be used by all market participants. The approximate additional costs of the emission offsetting per campaign are between 0.5 and 1 per cent.

There is wide support from the market partners: Ad Alliance, Bauer Advance, El Cartel Media, Funke Mediengruppe, Hubert Burda Media, Media Impact, RMS, Seven.One Entertainment Group and Ströer have joined the initiative and committed themselves to the aims connected with it. The compensation model functions in relation to the campaign, quite independently of where and which media are booked.

The principle of Green GRP:

• When planning a campaign, the media agency offers its clients the option of offsetting carbon emissions arising through the advertising measures. If clients decide to make their advertising campaigns climate neutral, they receive an introduction to the project and are registered as participants with ClimatePartner.
• The agency passes on the relevant performance values to ClimatePartner.​
• ClimatePartner calculates the campaign’s carbon footprint as well as the corresponding costs for offsetting on the basis of the consumption data (printing, paper used, power, etc.) ClimatePartner has developed a model for this purpose in cooperation with Mediaplus and the marketers, on the basis of which the carbon emissions of the entire advertising campaign are calculated dependent on the material, distribution and production.
• The client receives a report and an invoice from ClimatePartner. Subsequently, ClimatePartner arranges the offsetting with a climate-protection project chosen by the client.
• The client receives a certificate from ClimatePartner and can use the “climate-neutral advertising campaign” label. The advertiser is also listed on the website www.climate-map.com as a client with ClimatePartner.

“With Green GRP, advertisers make a contribution to global climate protection and support approved climate-protection projects. They also promote the attainment of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for example the combatting of poverty or the improvement of living conditions in emerging economies and developing countries”, emphasises Tristan A. Foerster, CEO of ClimatePartner. “Especially for companies, where climate action lies close to their heart, anyway, Mediaplus’s initiative is a logical extension of their public image, which we are delighted to support.”

Conversations with advertisers are underway. Andrea Malgara, Managing Partner of Mediaplus, stresses: “The campaign’s effect still remains the chief premise in the planning. The Green GRP changes nothing in the assembling of the media-mix. The selection of campaign components is based as ever on the client’s objectives and in the sense of the best possible ROI. As an agency, we have, however, a responsibility in the advertising market that transcends campaign planning and impact research. We would like to achieve an important contribution to climate neutrality using our special expertise.”

As Europe’s largest owner-managed agency group, the Serviceplan Group has also set itself the goal of being the trailblazer on the issue of sustainability – in economic, ecological and social terms. One of the most important measures is that Serviceplan has been climate neutral since 2020. Mediaplus has also initiated an interdisciplinary task force which deals with the sustainable media issue. In addition to ecological sustainability, economic and social/societal sustainability is also considered. Interdisciplinary discussion, development of sustainability standards for the marketplace and the introduction of sustainable media products are the aim. The Green GRP is the first tangible product.

Continuing on from Mediaplus Deutschland, the model for climate-neutral campaigns should also be introduced into other countries where the agency is represented, with ClimatePartner as their international partner in all countries. The pioneer in climate protection offers companies TÜV-Austria-certified solutions with whose help they can balance, reduce and offset their carbon emissions and thereby provide their products and services in a climate-neutral way. ClimatePartner offers a wide portfolio of approved climate-protection projects in collaboration with a worldwide partner network.

More information can  be found at www.serviceplan.com/en/news/green-grp.html.