From 'Product Placement' to 'Planet Placement'
How creative agency The Big Sky is proving that a clear environmental stance can drive client interest up and industry impact down
đ„ TL;DR
Creative industries like advertising want to rewrite the script on their climate impact. As well as reducing the impact of their own creations, they have a unique ability to positively influence others en masse. But in a world where survival is based on creating the ânewâ and success is measured by items sold, this can feel counter-intuitive. As creative agency The Big Sky tells us, the trick is in identifying metrics that go beyond endless consumerism, and giving the planet a starring role in every story.
đ Core terms:
AdGreen: An organisation creating tools and resources to help the advertising industry measure and reduce the negative environmental impacts of production
B Corp: A global organisation which certifies for-profit companies for proving high levels of social and environmental performance.Â
Carbon offsetting: The funding of projects to absorb carbon emissions from the atmosphere and compensate for carbon dioxide emitted elsewhere
đ London-based creative agency The Big Sky counts global brands like LâOrĂ©al, Google, and National Geographic amongst their clients. Theyâre also leading the charge on green credentials; one of B Corpâs "Best of the World" 2022, a top contributor to AdGreen, and off-setting twice their carbon emissions. This stance is paying off. Co-founders + brothers Ben and Jack Wylson shared how clients are now seeking them out precisely because of those values.
âł 1. What is the tension that creative industries are feeling when it comes to the climate crisis?
Creative industries like advertising are what make the world economy go round.
Human beings are beamed between 4,000-10,000 advertising images a day, and the dominant success metric is about how many products are sold.Â
But now, weâve realised what mass consumerism does to the planet, and so we need to change up how we act. The industry needs to move from âProduct Placementâ to âPlanet Placementâ.
đ 2. What do you mean by âPlanet Placementâ?
Traditionally, advertising in particular has been about putting products in front of people. âPlanet placementâ however means introducing authentic sustainability messages into the content we see on our screens.
For example in a film you might have characters who talk about climate change, or adverts showing actions to reduce their impact by recycling or taking a train instead of a flight. You can still advertise products, but now youâre making people think about the bigger picture.
đ 3. When did The Big Sky actively start thinking about âPlanet Placement?âÂ
When we started our agency 13 years ago, we worked with all types of companies. Very quickly we found ourselves working on outcomes we werenât fulfilled by. We didnât just want to push pointless consumerism and things people didnât want.Â
We had grown up in the British countryside and felt a deep need to do work that made nature better. So we decided to make it clear what our values were and start acting on them: to make impactful material with strong messages about people and the planet.Â
And that led to incredible projects like Mahout: The Great Elephant Walk narrated by Stephen Fry which follows the lives of the mahouts (elephant keepers) who walked four Asian elephants across Nepal to relocate them from one national park to another.Â
(I can confirm, it is an epic story).
And from there, we just kept going.
â© 4. What was the reaction from clients when you made âPlanet Placementâ part of your brand identity?
We had thought that talking about our environmental passions out loud might dissuade people from working with us. Itâs done the opposite.Â
Now that weâre âofficiallyâ those kinds of [environmental] people, others want to be associated with it. Thereâs a lot of people thinking this way so when you start talking about it and taking action, they want to join the club. Weâre more sought out now because of our stance and we get to do more of the work we love.Â
âNow that weâre âofficiallyâ those kinds of [environmental] people, others want to be associated with it.â
đ 5. Where do you even start when it comes to reducing the impacts of the creative industry?
The creative process generally has 3 stages which is helpful when thinking about how to measure and reduce impact:Â
Research and Development: Understanding trends, audience reactions, and consumer feedback are key components to creating relevant and marketable content.Â
Content production: Making the end product, whether that be film, photography or even a brand campaign
Promotion and distribution: Communicating with potential consumers to increase brand awareness and sales
Today, by the time youâve got to the end of the process, your output is more than just the final reel. Youâve also likely racked up:
Huge electricity bills to power all your devices
Carbon footprints for travel, for people and equipment
Waste bills from disposing of temporary sets made of plastic, metal, and paperÂ
Food, plastic, and cardboard waste to help with catering on site
Energy and paper bills for adverts on billboards or electronic devices / the internet
Most of what is used is a one time thing. So what we know is that this can be a hugely wasteful industry.Â
Once you start measuring, you can challenge yourself to be better on each project going forward.
đŹ 6. How do you balance getting the right creative outcome with reducing environmental impact?
The important thing is that changes canât negatively impact the end result the client will see. But there are certainly lots of changes we can make in both pre-production and during shoots which have an impact.Â
Some of the things weâve started to implement:
Training production staff with AdGreen resources to build climate knowledge in-house. Amongst other things, theyâre building knowledge about key climate science, how to collect and analyse climate data on projects, and how to calculate carbon footprints.
We add more scrutiny upfront about the development of each project: asking questions about how long will it actually take and can we reduce days of the shoot or use stock footage? Can we include local hires for some roles? What materials can we supply locally rather than transporting in?Â
We also offset our Carbon Dioxide for our commercial productions, which is based on twice our calculated emissions plus contributions for each employee. This year is down 77% on our emissions in the previous year, despite more projects.
On sets weâre reducing waste: weâll supply reusable water bottles or coffee cups to everyone so we can eliminate single use plastic, and try to use electric cabs where they exist.Â
đł 7. Do you think about the financial impact of these changes?
For sure. Thinking more deeply about the project design upfront can help reduce overall project costs, from transportation to waste disposal.
In the years weâve been adding the carbon levy weâve never had a client push back, but every-time we can reduce the carbon footprint of a project, we then reduce the carbon levy (0.25% of overall costs) pay for off-setting emissions. So the small things do add up.
And we really believe there is an intangible brand value which comes from showing our clients we mean what we say when it comes to the environment.Â
Thereâs a very real understanding that advertising has been part of the problem historically, and now it can use that power to make more positive change.
đą 8. So what are the other ways the industry can make changes?
Advertising and creative agencies have amazing power for positive change.
We made a video for COP26 with Purpose Disruptors on exactly this. It's the worldâs first-ever documentary about the advertising industry and its relationship with the climate crisis and has ideas from industry leaders like M&C Saatchi, Mindshare, Mother, and Iris talking about what the advertising industry can do to create a new type of 'good lifeâ by 2030.
They identify 4 key things:
Get the house in order: what can creative agencies do to measure and reduce the impact of the campaigns they have?
Think about who you work with: What is our work and what we are advertising? Are we focused on things which are good for people and planet?
Adopting new metrics for success: How can we add metrics like materials used, energy consumed, or carbon emitted, and then benchmark to improve these project on project.Â
How do we use our own agency? Where can we amplify the stories and people we think need to be heard when it comes to climate stories?
đź 9. How do you see the industry changing in future?
The industry is taking some steps, for example, AdGreen didnât exist a few years ago and has since helped many agencies to measure and reduce their impact.
So taking small steps is better than no steps at all. But we do need to move faster and question the âfixesâ we are relying on to solve this issue.Â
Ultimately this industry needs to remember that people are individuals, not just consumers. And what they will remember and care about into the future is the people and the environment, not the trivial things.Â
đ 10. What is something that interested readers can look at to learn more?
Definitely check out the Purpose Disruptorâs video for COP26 on How advertising can create a new type âgood lifeâ by 2030. It should make you very hopeful about where this industry can go.
To learn more about the incredible work The Big Sky is doing to put the planet front and centre, check out The Big Sky | Earth.