Advertising has a potential to play a significant role in combating climate change and can be used to educate customers about products and services with a low carbon footprint.

This is according to a recent survey commissioned by the UK-based Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, IPA , and carried out by Opinium among a sample of 2,000 UK adults aged 18 years and above.

The survey further revealed that 59% of people like seeing what companies are doing to help tackle climate change in their ads and that 87% agree that all companies have a responsibility to help reduce the impact of climate change. However, 69% of people believe we aren’t making progress quickly enough and only 34% of consumers think we can reverse the effects of climate change.

The survey comes on the heels of another global study by dentsu international and Microsoft Advertising examining consumer awareness and engagement with issues linked to sustainable consumption and media use. It revealed that in the next 12 months; 59% of consumers worldwide intend to start boycotting brands who don’t take action on climate change.

There is also almost unanimous support for companies to not only do the right thing for the planet, but also to ‘show by example’. 91% of people want brands to demonstrate they are making positive choices about the planet and environment more explicitly - in everything they do.

Still on matters advertising, True Influence®, powered by MeritB2B, the technology player of data-driven sales and marketing solutions, has announced that it has partnered with The Trade Desk, a global advertising technology company, as a primary media buying platform for True Influence's programmatic campaigns.

Under the new partnership, The Trade Desk will be the main media buying platform for the fulfillment of programmatic campaigns purchased through True Influence's DisplayBase® integrated B2B media management product.

In the expansion front, YouTube agency Team5pm is expanding further abroad. After Germany, the YouTube agency from Amsterdam is now also opening an office in Scandinavia.

From there, the agency also wants to help Scandinavian brands and publishers with success on YouTube. This is the next step of Team5pm's internationalization plans.

And Global digital agency Dept, known for its award-winning work for Google, KFC, Twitch, Patagonia and Spotify, has officially launched its Asia Pacific operations, headed up by former Havas Group CEO Vishnu Mohan.

Founded in Amsterdam in 2015, Dept has quickly grown across the globe, from 150 people in The Netherlands to more than 2,000 people in seventeen countries across five continents and was the most awarded independent agency at the 2021 Webby Awards.

In the appointments’ space, GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced that Marie-Claire Barker has been named Global Chief People Officer, effective January 2022. She succeeds Jennifer Remling, who was appointed WPP’s Chief People Officer in October.

As a member of GroupM’s Global Leadership Team, Barker will lead the group’s People Solutions operation across its 36,000-person organization.

Havas Media Group has also announced Sarah Ivey as its new Chief Strategy Officer, North America. Her appointment comes as part of the acceleration of the group’s overall growth strategy in North America and on the heels of former Chief Strategy Officer, North America Meghan Grant stepping into the elevated position of President of Havas Media Group U.S. and Chief Client Experience Officer for North America last month.

On acquisitions, fuboTV Inc., the sports-first live TV streaming platform, has closed its acquisition of France’s live TV streaming company, Molotov SAS. The acquisition, announced on November 9, 2021, was previously expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

Dynata, the global first-party data platform for insights, activation and measurement, has announced it has acquired Ameritest, a brand and advertising research consultancy.

The acquisition strengthens Dynata's advertising solutions offerings within the Dynata Platform, adding key creative testing capabilities to help clients measure the effectiveness of their messages to create powerful and engaging creative for better communication and higher ROI.

And Global luxury brand Dolce&Gabbana has named Havas Media Group its global media agency partner. The decision comes following a competitive agency review supported by Ebiquity Italy.

The global scope covers over twenty of Dolce&Gabbana’s global markets, including the United States, Italy, Germany, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom and Middle East. Media strategy, planning, coordination, and digital activation for the major European markets will be led by a centralized Havas Media Group Italy team.

In matters sustainability, After Brussels and Antwerp, TotalEnergies has won a call for tenders from the municipality of Ghent, Belgium’s third largest city, for the installation and operation of electric vehicles public charging stations, with 800 new public charge points by 2025.

With this agreement, the city of Ghent will enhance its public network for EV. These new charging stations, to be installed by TotalEnergies and operated for the next ten years, will be supplied with 100% renewable electricity generated by offshore wind power in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium.

ENGIE and BASF have signed a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for renewable energy in Europe.

Under the PPA, effective as of January 1, 2022, ENGIE will provide BASF with up to 20.7 terawatt hours of renewable electricity in total throughout the term of the agreement.

And finally, MSL U.S., in partnership with The Influencer League, has unveiled a first-of-its-kind research study "Time to Face the Influencer Pay Gap," uncovering a vast racial divide in influencer marketing.

According to the research, the racial pay gap between white and BIPOC influencers (Black, Indigenous & People of Color) is 29%. Focus specifically on the gap between white and Black influencers, and it widens to 35%.

Bob Koigi is an editor at Marketing Report EU

www.marketingreport.eu