“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.
Today’s column is written by Ben Riley, general manager at SeenThis.
By now, we’ve all heard of Scope3, Brian O’Kelley’s sustainability-focused startup. But as sustainability in digital media becomes ever more pressing, how many of us know where the term “Scope 3” comes from and what it really means?
Scope 3 is part of The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, which was created more than 20 years ago to help companies understand how they generate greenhouse gas emissions. Scope 1 describes direct emissions, such as factories or a fleet of trucks. Scope 2 includes the electricity used by offices and other buildings. Scope 3 includes all of the emissions that are created by their wider business, i.e., their supply chain.
For digital media, Scope 3 includes all of us: agencies, tech companies and publishers. We are the digital advertising supply chain, and we are all equally responsible for its sustainability. That’s why, to successfully sustain it, we must connect our efforts to wider corporate goals, use standard certifications and measurements, and prioritize innovations that create a winning, sustainable scenario for us all.
Agencies are agents of change
Agencies can drive change, but they’re in a tough spot when it comes to pushing forward. Though brands are talking about sustainability, it’s still largely performance that shapes the media plan. Agencies can’t move too much ahead until they can prove that sustainability and performance can work together.
The good news is there’s a growing number of agencies taking sustainability seriously, such as Essence for Google, Havas and Dentsu. Many agencies now even have a sustainability champion that reports to the highest level of the organization.
The standards are coming from brands
We can’t use smoke and mirrors to achieve sustainability in digital advertising. We’re not going to be able to claim that better targeting is “more efficient” without proof of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Roughly 1GB of data generated from digital advertising is the equivalent of 1kg of CO2 emissions. We need standards that can help brands actually calculate these emissions across their partners.
Companies like Doconomy and Scope3 are working out solutions to create standards.
And there will eventually be global sustainability standards as well. Already, countries like Sweden have laws prohibiting false sustainability claims. We can expect laws to emerge, similar to what we’ve seen with privacy regulations, that ensure the way we market sustainability across the supply chain is regulated.
Making a commitment to change
Sustainability isn’t just about creating best practices. It’s about rethinking everything we do, from the data we use to the way our ads are designed to the technology we use to display them.
In some cases, existing technology is proving to be very sustainable. For example, adaptive streaming is more sustainable than video or image downloads. Google’s YouTube already uses this technology, as do the major CTV players. It’s likely we’ll see more players across the internet adopt it, including advertisers and publishers.
But there’s a need for new technology, too. For example, AI-based algorithms can minimize the use of energy needed to transfer data, calculate an outcome or manage an auction.
Whatever innovations come our way, there are no shortcuts to sustainability. We might be able to make ourselves feel better with some good “green” marketing right now, but the global requirements will catch up to us. We’ll need to make sure we’re making choices that actually move the needle.
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