The ‘green halo’ of sustainability advertising

Three in five people say sustainability messaging in advertising influences their brand choice, according to research from Sky Media. 

A study of 52 campaigns, across seven categories, tapped into a UK-representative audience of over 5,300 Sky participants, using both survey and qualitative interview and focus groups, as well as implicit association measurement techniques.

Key findings 

• 71% of respondents were concerned about climate change, which ranks in the top three of the ‘UK’s most pressing issues’. 
• 49% say sustainability messaging has ‘a lot’ of influence (and for younger audiences this rises to as much as 59%). 
• Even ‘eco resistant’ audiences are still influenced by sustainability messaging.
• Overall, the research indicated that sustainability ads evoked stronger emotions, leading to better ad engagement and persuasion. 
• Across the board, the research showed +15% higher positive brand perception and +5% greater engagement and persuasion scores for sustainability ads vs non-sustainability ads.
• Sustainability-led campaigns came out as more effective across the board and increased areas like recall by as much as 12%. 

Why it matters

Sustainability messaging can be hugely influential when included in advertising and can have an impact in all categories of advertising. 

Four creative considerations 

• Credibility: Show me what you’ve done already or why I should believe you (by backing up claims with actions). 
• Clarity of message: What action is being taken? Any vagueness in promises tends to be heavily associated with greenwashing. 
• Correct tone: Having an impassioned voice of authority/influence is liked if coming from a credible source; telling people what to do with no expertise is counterproductive.
• Creative execution: Talking about sustainability brings all aspects of execution under closer scrutiny; the execution is linked with reception factors such as location and use of talent, which can majorly undermine green credentials. 

Sourced from Sky Media