German luxury automotive brand Audi managed to half the carbon emissions in its digital advertising supply chain during a recent campaign to launch its e-tron range in the Czech market. During the campaign, which was deployed by media agency PHD, Audi was able to decrease its digital advertising-related carbon emissions by 52%, while achieving a significant increase in performance.
In order to make this a reality, integrated ad platform Adform’s in-built carbon reduction capabilities were utilised. Through dynamic exclusion of 30% of the highest emitting domains in the market, the technology–enabled thanks to a recent partnership with Scope3 – was able to lower emissions to 131 gCO2PM (grams of carbon emissions per thousand impressions), compared to the market average of 276 gCO2PM.
Alongside the reduction in emissions, the campaign also saw a 65% increase in clickthrough rate versus Audi’s historical performance data from previous campaigns.
“We are pleased to have had the opportunity, with partners Adform and Scope3, to be pioneers in testing actions to minimize the carbon footprint of our campaigns. This is a topic we find crucial. Both for our client Audi, as they address sustainable electromobility and for us. We’re really excited about the collaboration and the results of the campaign, but OMG [Omnicom Media Group] also recognises that measuring our carbon footprint in digital campaigns is only a piece of the mosaic, albeit a very important one, of the whole media mix that we want to address comprehensively,” said Jindřich Jiráček, Performance Marketing Specialist at OMG Czech, parent of PHD.
Adform began its partnership with Scope3 in February 2023, becoming the first global demand side platform (DSP) to integrate Scope3’s capabilities.
The carbon reduction capabilities developed from the partnership will be rolled out and made available to all of Adfom’s clients in the summer of this year.
“With Adform’s carbon reduction capabilities, Audi and PHD were given real-time insights and data to inform and enable planning, as well as the real-world ad delivery capability to drive down emissions whilst ramping up performance. There is enough freedom, with good inventory and smart technology, to weed out high-emitting domains, without compromising reach or performance. It is hugely significant to have a brand like Audi prove that, and their transparency is a service to the whole industry”, said Oliver Whitten, Chief Operating Officer at Adform.
*Adform is a client of Bluestripe Communications, owned by Bluestripe Group, publisher of NDA