NET ZERO ADVERTISING
THE
PITCH
The average digital advertising campaign produces 5.4 tonnes of carbon. This is half of what each Australian produces in a YEAR through living.
The Global advertising industry is a significant contributor to global gas emissions and leaves a monumental carbon footprint in its wake after every step of the advertising process. This has led to a worldwide recognition of this issue and businesses in this industry are slowly making heavier efforts to become net zero.
My proposed Digital Artefact is to create a series of mini-campaigns that are centred around becoming Net Zero, to ultimately better the environment and reduce our global carbon footprint. These ad materials will feature content and ideas ranging from all ends of the information spectrum, including, what will happen to our planet if we fail to act and the significant benefits of change if we do. The campaigns will be posted and exist on the platform LinkedIn; as this is commonly and predominately used as a business forum. With over 900+ million users yearly (About LinkedIn, 2002) this means there will be company heads, managers, business owners, CEOs, and employees from thousands of different ranging companies worldwide. Thus, the probability of creating tangible change is higher. In addition to these campaigns, I will be posting infographics that I will source the information for and design. These will be posted on secondary platform Instagram because of its follow-share capabilities and high consumer reach. These will include information regarding the negative impact of the advertising industry on the global environment, in regard to emissions and carbon dioxide output. To create both the campaigns and infographics I will be heavily utilising Canva for its easy use and endless design possibilities.
My Digital Artefact draws on subject content such as Cybernetics, Cyberspace and AI purely for their technological communications. Cybernetics is the communication between machines and living things; for example, computers and human advertisers. Cyberspace is the communication between human entities across technological platforms, such as email, social media, and texting. Lastly, AI is the automatically generated communication from a computer as its high-level intelligence acts as a mind of its own. The context for my project has come from several different sources. These include media outlets discussing advertising’s carbon footprint and the issue at stake; Researchers who are interested in the conversation between green advertising behaviours and consumer response; and initiatives like Ad Net Zero. Ad Net Zero is a significant inspiration behind my project concept as it is a worldwide initiative committed to helping all advertising businesses and brands globally, to fully decarbonise their processes and practices within their immediate business environment, and all consequent environments thereafter.
My production timeline takes a simple approach as I often overcomplicate things and make my projects seem unachievable. However, with this particular DA as I am creating two separate supporting apparatuses for my cause (campaigns and infographics), I have decided to adopt a fortnightly turnaround approach, all whilst consistently working on my final report through the sequential weeks. This will result in week A being the design and publication of an infographic and week B being the design and issuance of a mini-campaign; consequently, on a rotating basis.
In conclusion, I am very excited about the possibilities of my concept and look forward to creating meaningful content towards a genuine and pressing cause.
References:
About linkedin (no date) About LinkedIn. Available at: https://about.linkedin.com/ (Accessed: March 13, 2023).
Advertising's response to the climate emergency (2023) Ad Net Zero. Available at: https://adnetzero.com/ (Accessed: March 13, 2023).
Haytko, D.L. and Matulich, E. (no date) Green advertising and environmentally responsible consumer behaviors ..., Green Advertising and Environmentally Responsible Consumer Behaviors: Linkages Examined . Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237506901_Green_Advertising_and_Environmentally_Responsible_Consumer_Behaviors_Linkages_Examined (Accessed: March 13, 2023).
Wappet, M. (no date) Spoiler alert: The Media and advertising industry is a significant carbon producer, AdNews. Available at: https://www.adnews.com.au/news/spoiler-alert-the-media-and-advertising-industry-is-a-significant-carbon-producer#:~:text=The%20communications%20industry%2C%20the%20backbone,same%20amount%20as%20highway%20vehicles (Accessed: March 13, 2023).
This is such a fantastic idea for a DA! Marketing is a practice so ingrained into every other industry that we often forget that it is its own industry and has its own operations processes. The concept of posting to LinkedIn is unique in my experience. Although it is a perfectly acceptable platform for regular content publication, and indeed perfect for the focus of your DA, it is often overlooked by those of us in the BCM courses. You deserve serious commendment for your vision and forethought on your topic and clarity of vision.
My only criticism of your post is that I am unable to load the embeded video, even on multiple devices. This may well be a user error on my end, but it never hurts to have a dummy account on a seperate device to see if your content has loaded and integrated properly. Hopefully this feedback can be applied not only here but in the DA itself.
I don't normally like The Economist but I found this article very interesting:
https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/net-zero-and-energy/decarbonising-business-models-and-navigating-net-zero
It may also be valuable to look further into the elctrification of the Grid by initiatives similar to what Saul Griffith was proposing not only to the people of Thirroul but to national governments as well. The transition to Green Energy will go a long way to helping several industries achieve their goals of decarbonisation.
All the best moving forward!
Hey Lauren,
Reading your pitch made me think that I haven't seen a project like yours so I praise you for finding something that is different from the other students. I have never really thought of decarbonising the advertising industry but it completely makes sense as advertising is one of the biggest industries in the world. I also really like how you are using LinkedIn as you are trying to target the businesses that can actually make a difference in this industry. I suggest you could also use TikTok as well as Instagram as the photo feature on TikTok has blown up on the app. You also connected your project to subject materials really well, I think you could add on and do future thinking and connect that too if the advertising industry became decarbonised then how would that look?
i have looked into some other research that you could use and this is what i could find:
Martech looks at How advertisers can take the lead in reducing carbon emissions
https://martech.org/how-advertisers-can-take-the-lead-in-reducing-carbon-emissions/
and Double Verify is looking at sustainability in advertising
https://doubleverify.com/sustainability-in-advertising-how-brands-are-leading-the-way-to-lower-emissions/
You did a really good job with this pitch !! and I'm excited to see what you come up with.
Hey Lauren,
I think this is a great focus area for your DA, decarbonising the advertising industry is a unique but mega relevant issue for our future. The stats you listed in the opening paragraph about how much carbon the average digital advertising campaign produces, was honestly very eye opening for me and something I never would’ve considered. Your proposed methodology to spread awareness of the issue through mini-campaigns and infographics on the platforms LinkedIn and Instagram makes sense, it’s good to see you have focused on both businesses/industries and individuals. However, whilst I know your proposed content is not specifically advertising, I believe it would be worth considering the way your own campaigns and infographics are made in a way that aids to decarbonisation - as this content approach could be taken the wrong way by some.
You have clearly addressed your projects coherence to some of the subject content topics including Cybernetics, Cyberspace and Artificial Intelligence (great job on that!) although I would’ve liked to see you hone your focus further into the ideas within these topics e.g. how the advertising industry emissions could influence the Anthroposcene. You say you will use multiple sources to help conduct research for the DA, it would’ve been good to see those linked or some excerpts included to gauge the total relevancy to your campaigns and infographics.
Here are some sources I found that could help you in directly addressing the areas of your DA focus, if you haven’t seen them already:
https://www.instagram.com/clean_creatives/
@clean_creatives on Instagram for infographic ideation and design
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2022.2140963
An academic article by Patrick Hartmann, Aitor Marcos, Juana Castro, & Vanessa Apaolaza on “advertising and climate change” providing information and facts that could be utilised as prompts for your campaigns and infographics
Overall, I enjoyed reading and learning through your DA pitch about the advertising industry and its effects on our environment. This is an idea I haven’t seen anyone else doing, so I very much applaud you on your originality. Will make sure to follow along with this to see your progress over the semester!
Hi Lauren! I was intrigued by the concept of decarbonising the advertising industry, from its production to its distribution, which is something I hadn't thought of before I read more into it. During my research into decarbonising the visual communications sector, I discovered a concept called 'advertised emissions'. 'Advertised emissions' can be defined as the "uplift in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that result from the increase in sales generated by advertising" (Ormesher, 2022).
Here are some resources on 'advertised emissions' that l believe could be useful for your investigation of the global advertising industry and its carbon emission rate.
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2022/11/07/advertising-adds-extra-32-annual-carbon-footprint-every-person-the-uk#:~:text=What%20are%20advertised%20emissions%3F,full%20impact%20of%20its%20investments.
https://www.purposedisruptors.org/advertised-emissions
Hartmann, P., Marcos, A., Castro, J. and Apaolaza, V. (2022). Perspectives: Advertising and Climate Change – Part Of the Problem or Part of the solution? International Journal of Advertising, pp.1–28.
Your choice to use the media platform 'Linkin' to directly project and communicate the message of your campaign towards individuals and industries who work within the advertising sector is well considered. I believe that this direct projection to those who work within the industry under your investigation could lead to greater conversations about industry reform. As my digital artefact aims to explore industry reform in the visual communications sector, Linkin could be a viable platform that l could implement to communicate my message directly towards designers.
You have used the subject material, including cyberspace, cybernetics and AI, as a framework of communications and systems for your DA. But l think it's fundamental and helpful that you draw a closer focus on 'future thinking'. Particularly thinking about how these industries can strategically plan and reform their practices for decarbonisation.
In terms of your blog's conformity with the assessment parameters, your video did go over the hard max and min of 2 minutes. This could've been avoided by cutting out the parts of your audio of repetitive information that was already in your blog. But other than that great job, I'm really looking forward to seeing the process and development of your digital artefact.😁