IPA arms agencies with four-step sustainability transformation toolkit

Industry-wide consultations inform guidance to support agencies in their transformation planning.

A new IPA environmental sustainability report and accompanying toolkit identifies the barriers faced by the industry and provides tools and guidance to support agencies in their transformation planning.

The toolkit, Agents of Change: The Plan, provides agencies with a detailed and practical four-step model for action and is designed to give leaders the knowledge and support to formulate a sustainability plan that sits in tandem with their agency business plan.

The toolkit has been commissioned by the IPA Sustainability Action Group and is authored by One Planet Communications. It is informed by the findings of an accompanying report, Agents of Change: The Expert View, which summarises the experiences of agency leaders and sustainability specialists, clients, coalitions working for change within the industry, external activists and other related membership bodies.

Within the report, these experts define the environment that industry professionals find themselves in and discuss the pressing issues they believe should be tackled through a cohesive, open and collaborative industry-wide approach to sustainability. Crucially, they also identify five perceived barriers to change, which include:

  • Business as usual taking precedence
  • The sector not being cohesive
  • No one telling the whole story
  • Agencies underestimating risk
  • Clients not demanding change

To address these barriers, and to set agencies up for future success, they identify key resources and the core steps of activity that form the basis of the four-step model.

A top-line summary of the four-step model for sustainable action:

Set your ambition

The first step of the model recommends that agency leaders should identify and be honest about where they want to take their business, in order to provide themselves with a north star when setting targets and taking action.

It identifies that agencies currently fall within three groups, according to their approach to sustainable business:

  • Passives – taking no positive action outside legal compliance
  • Participants – making incremental changes to reduce their negative impact
  • Pioneers – setting out to embed a sustainable mindset and create a net-positive approach

To help those unsure of their position on the journey, the IPA has also produced a diagnostic tool.

Build the foundations

The model explains how to build the foundations for change, including understanding context and risk, establishing a business case, leading the agenda and engaging colleagues.

Take action

The model encourages agencies to take action in two ways:

  • In the work they do, which involves making clear choices on their clients, campaigns and in normalizing behaviours.
  • In the way they work - to improve their efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of operations, production and delivery.

To help track progress, as an agency and an industry, the Plan proposes 10 top-line KPIs for the work agencies do, and two for the way agencies work.

Grow the movement

Finally, the model focuses on how agencies can help to grow a movement for change, through inspiration and collaboration.

Commenting on the report:

Tom Firth, Chair, IPA Sustainability Action Group and UK Group Managing Director, M&C Saatchi London:

 "For this to be useful for agencies it was essential that we understood where the industry is now - so thank you to everyone who contributed to this report; from clients, agencies, industry bodies and members of the activist community.

 "It was clear from these conversations that advertising industry leaders must be clear eyed about the challenges they face and move fast to keep pace with clients, respond to changing legislation and regulation and react to the shifting expectations of talent.

"It is a time of both risk and enormous opportunity for the industry. This project is our first vital step in providing practical support to other IPA members to help them make sense of the agenda and begin to think strategically about the transformation required, and the practical steps needed to change."

Paul Bainsfair, Director General, IPA:

"As the report authors explain in the Expert View, while this practical advice is aimed primarily at those agencies that are at the start, or at an early stage of their journey towards sustainable practice, the principles it sets out are intended to be useful to all leaders, formal or informal, in businesses of all sizes.

"By harnessing our creative power and by working together, we can be a catalyst for change, helping build a more sustainable society for future generations."

Access "Agents of Change" for free

 

Contributors to the Agents of Change: The Expert View and The Plan are:

  • Sue Benson, Managing Director, The Behaviours Agency
  • Matt Bourn, Director of Communications, The Advertising Association
  • Michelle Carvill, Co-Founder, Can Marketing Save the Planet?
  • Elle Chartres, UK Director, Ad Net Zero
  • Mark Curtis, Sustainability Lead and Head of Thought Leadership, Accenture Song
  • Alex Davis, Financial Director, 23red
  • Jake Dubbins, Managing Director, Media Bounty & Co-Founder, Conscious Advertising
  • Network (CAN)
  • Suzy Giles, Associate Partner ESG Communications, ERM & Chair, ESG Expert Panel, Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
  • Mark Gomez, Group Procurement Manager – Media and Digital Marketing, Kingfisher plc
  • Mark Graeme, Executive Producer, RedStudios@AMVBBDO
  • Jon Howard, Planning Director, Quiet Storm Advertising
  • Gill Jarvie, Director of Client Services, Republic of Media
  • Rosie Kitson, Chief Impact Officer, Havas UK&I
  • Stuart Macnaughtan, Head of Public Affairs and Sustainability, ISBA
  • Felicity McLean, Associate Director – Sustainability Engagement, WPP
  • Duncan Meisel, Executive Director, Clean Creatives
  • Pam Noakes, Global Sustainability Director, M&C Saatchi
  • Stephanie Parry, Senior Marketing Procurement, Crown Commercial Service
  • Grace Reith, Sustainability Communications Director, Bray Leino
  • Pauline Robson, Managing Partner & Head of Sustainability, EssenceMediacom UK
  • Laura Spooner, Senior Account Director, 23red
  • Laura Sutherland, PR Director, 3X1 Group & Chair, Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) Climate Communication Group
  • Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder, A Plastic Planet
  • James Sutton, Strategy and Commercial Director, Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
  • Jessica Tamsedge, UK CEO, Dentsu Creative
  • Tim Whirledge, Strategy Partner, Dentsu Creative UK
  • Johnny White, Climate Lawyer, Client Earth
  • Jonathan Wise, Co-Founder, Purpose Disruptors
Last updated 19 September 2024