Introduction

Advertising agencies are in a unique position in that their very job is to influence others – whether that’s making different purchasing decisions or changing behaviour. The very core of what you do means the choices of who you work with and the campaigns you work on are vital when assessing the impact you’re having.

Anecdotal feedback from interviewees indicated that by choosing to work on more impactful, sustainable campaigns, employees are happier, more productive and more creative. Your business will also be set up for future success as policy, regulation and markets change.

• 3.1.1. The clients you choose to work with – ensure the clients you work with align with your own sustainability ambitions.
• 3.1.2. The campaigns you choose to work on – this is as much about the product, service or behaviour change as it is about the accuracy of any sustainability claims in your campaigns.
• 3.1.3. Normalising sustainable behaviour in all your outputs – every campaign is an opportunity to influence the audience towards sustainable behaviours, even if the campaign focus is not for a sustainable product or service.

The discussions we had in the course of creating this guide led to the collation of proposed KPIs. This is because increased transparency can help to drive focus and action. If all agencies agreed to start publishing these KPIs we could ignite a race to the top for Pioneers.

Proposed key metrics

To help you track your progress and start to build a benchmark across the industry, we recommend that all agencies track the following metrics:

Clients:

• % of clients that are sustainability-focused (to be counted >50% of the client’s revenue must be derived from selling inherently sustainable products and services) e.g. electric car company
• % of clients that have strong sustainability commitments (products/services might not be inherently sustainable) e.g. an FMCG client with established and ambitious sustainability targets
• % of revenue from carbon-critical sectors (see Creative Carbon Disclosures for a list of sectors)
• % of revenue from controversial sectors (see Creative Carbon Disclosures for a list of sectors)
• # no. of clients in carbon-critical sectors that you have influenced (can also reflect this as a % by dividing the number of clients in carbon critical sectors that you have influenced by the total number of clients you have in carbon critical sectors). You will need to provide supporting evidence to summarise how you have influenced the client towards a sustainable transition. If you have no clients in carbon critical sectors, then you would state ‘n/a’. One datapoint that you could be used to demonstrate influence is tracking the total absolute emissions of your clients over time (gathered from sustainability reports and CPD data) and evaluating whether absolute emissions are coming down year on year in line with Science Based Targets.

Campaigns:

• % of campaigns that are promoting sustainable products/services e.g. General Motors: Super Bowl Commercial 2021
• % of campaigns that are normalising sustainable behaviours (even though the focus of the campaign may not be inherently sustainable) e.g. Great Western Railway, Five Get There First
• % of campaigns that are actively promoting sustainable behaviour change e.g. Hellmann’s Cook Clever Waste Less
• % of campaigns overall that are making the world a better place (i.e. they tick one of the above boxes)
• # Green Claim Violations would be counted where action has been taken against you or your client for campaigns or other marketing materials that were deemed to have broken regulations or law regarding sustainability-related claims. If you’re following the guidelines in the jurisdictions in which you operate, then we would expect this to be 0. See step 2.2 for links to various guides on green claims.