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Brands want to be more sustainable, but they’re also under pressure to hit revenue goals in a tough market, and that pressure rolls downhill to agencies, ad partners and publishers. New phrases have emerged to assuage concerned advertisers, like “profit and progress” and “sustainable growth.”
The idea that advertisers can hit their goals and be more sustainable is exciting and valid, as long as everyone is smart about how they measure the two elements individually and together. Focus on the wrong measurements and you risk increasing overall emissions, or curbing emissions but ruining campaign performance.
This is not a hypothetical situation, it’s a reality today. While total emissions reduction is the main goal, it’s hard to measure at an accurate, granular level, and even harder to optimize for. Setting up measurements across all emission-driving activities is extremely complex. That’s why estimations are key to understanding “hot spots” for reduction.
Keep in mind that optimizing using estimations, especially for only part of a media buy, can have side effects. For example, a partner using averages for one part of their media buy might underestimate the actual emissions impact of a particular ad type or channel and might, with good intentions, wrongfully select them over a more efficient option with granular measurements. On the other hand, if an advertiser uses estimations everywhere, two partners could look the same even if one uses renewable energy and the other does not.
No two impressions are truly created equal. As advertisers have worked to get accurate sales metrics, we also need to get accurate emissions metrics to measure and optimize activity and outcomes. Advertisers are starting to embrace sustainability measurements specific to a campaign and add them onto the pile of other metrics they use to judge performance. They still want high conversions, low CPMs and long-term brand lift, but with the added layer of more sustainable delivery. In the interim, proxy metrics are starting to emerge—though they can do more harm than good if not used wisely.
It’s crucial to understand the implications of optimizing for these new sustainability metrics and how they interact with one another. Here are three that, in combination, can help get advertisers started in the right direction.
CO2e per impression
This is an efficiency metric that allows advertisers to understand the emissions of an average impression. And that’s where it stops: Emissions per impression doesn’t consider quality, viewability or channel—it won’t actually tell an advertiser that much unless they consider the value of the impression.
