Sky has announced five eco-friendly brands as winners of this year’s £2m Sky Zero Footprint Fund sustainable advertising initiative.
This year, Grub Club, Milliways, Ocean Bottle, OceanSaver and UpCircle have won £250,000 in media value to boost the advertising of their sustainable brands.
The five brands will now move into ad production, ahead of the final stage in December, which will see the most ‘compelling’ creative secure a total of £1m in media value.
Sky Zero Footprint Fund, established by Sky Media, is now in its third consecutive year and uses the power of TV advertising to tackle climate change by supporting campaigns that drive change to create a more sustainable world.
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The competitive fund follows the media company’s own ‘Sky Zero’ pledge, which aims to go net zero carbon by 2023, encouraging other brands to join them on that journey.
This year’s judging panel included a range of new additions, such as co-founder of Serious Tissues Chris Baker who won the £1m ad spend last year and sports news presenter and sustainability lead, David Garrido, as well as returning judges, such as Advertising Association chair Stephen Woodford.
All five ads will be produced using insights from AdGreen, part of the Advertising Association, which aims to get rid of the negative environmental impacts of production.
“Sky uses its platforms to engage audiences on climate change and encourage steps to reduce carbon emissions,” said Sky group director at the bigger picture and sustainability, Fiona Ball, who also judged at the event.
“Over the last two years, the fund has helped produce 10 exceptional adverts, propelling sustainable brands’ messages onto television to inspire wide, tangible behavioural change.
“Advertising can play a key role in raising awareness of climate issues and inspiring changes in daily habits, so we look forward to seeing the 2023 winners’ adverts on our TV channels,” Ball added.
The fund follows a ‘Sky Sports Summer of Sustainability campaign’ launched by the media brand earlier this year, in a bid to encourage more fans to be climate conscious when attending events.
