June 10, 2008

Agencies Climb On Board Sustainability Movement, Sort Of

In addition to spearheading international environmental and other sustainable projects on behalf of their clients, advertising agencies are taking steps to reduce their own carbon footprints, AdAge reports.

From Omnicom’s measuring the amount of electricity generated by a 30-second television spot, to Leo Burnett’s helping turn the skyline of Sydney, Australia, dark for Earth Hour, the development of sustainable messaging is on an upswing.

Since consumers are looking increasingly at the corporate social responsibility measures of companies with whom they do business, advertising agencies seem to be preparing to meet the same standards in their own practices.

WPP Group is one of many agencies taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint. The company plans to cut the energy used by computers in its offices worldwide by 30 percent, AdAge reports.

Some recent developments from ad agencies:

Grey New York recently launched “Green It Forward” to encourage Madison Avenue agencies to share their eco-friendly practices and offers corporate discounts for bike purchases.

In January, Advertising giant Publicis Groupe bought sustainability consultancy Act Now and renamed it Saatchi & Saatchi S

Advertising agency Union recently launched a green offshoot dubbed Union Green.

Of course, you have to wonder how seriously agencies are taking all this and how much of it creates some great PR for them, especially when they’re going after things like The Alliance for Climate Protection’s $300 million account. For instance, Grey’s “Green It Forward” blog only has 11 posts on it. That’s since September 2007. Its forum is doing better. It has 23 messages.

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