For Marketing Creatives, Green is the New Black

Corporate sustainability is nothing new. It has been referenced in company handbooks and marketing campaigns for as far back as I can remember. There are certainly plenty of advertising campaigns urging people to reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

Marketers are now turning sustainability campaigns into viable internal practices that help decrease wasteful spending and impact on the environment. “Sustainable marketing practices aim not only to meet consumer needs but also to minimize adverse impacts on the environment and society” (Wahdiniwaty et al., 2023). For marketing creatives, this not only translates into copy and design that speaks to sustainable practices in campaigns, but it also applies to how creative is, well, created.

It might be politically incorrect to say, but it was fun while it lasted. I once wrote copy for a major organization that did not reuse a single image, nor did they use stock images. Not one. Every image or video was custom and shot in a studio or on location, which means we used energy to travel, take the images, power our computers, and spent a lot of money. With sustainable practices, the days of travel expenses, high production costs, and shipping gear to locations for shoots are dwindling. Due to a growing carbon footprint related to emissions from computers, editing equipment, and a surge of network-clogging digital ads, sustainable marketing practices are becoming the rule rather than the exception (Holmes, 2023).

Adopting eco-friendly practices like recycling content, shortening video shoots, and regularly powering down equipment also helps curb emissions. Local shoots utilizing green screens and digital technology are replacing shoots requiring travel. If there’s a need for a re-shoot, creatives are able to edit through a computer-generated environment at the click of a button rather than having to travel again (Holmes, 2023). 

Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) technology can exponentially help with sustainability. For instance, by creating custom images from a handful of keywords, there won't be a need to travel or even leave your desk chair (although there are some ethics that might be breached). The technology isn't quite there yet, so we'll have to continue to be more mindful of ways to create sustainable marketing and advertising. 

Sources: 

Holmes, J. (2023, November 27). The key trends in marketing production for 2024. Marketing Week. https://www.marketingweek.com/the-key-trends-in-marketing-production-for-2024/

Wahdiniwaty, R., Susilawati Sugiana, N. S., Yani Syafei, M., Putra, Y. H., & Adi Wibowo, L. (2023). Big Data   Algorithms as Enablers of Sustainable Marketing Practices: A Preliminary Research. 2023 International Conference on Informatics Engineering, Science & Technology (INCITEST), Informatics Engineering, Science & Technology (INCITEST), 2023 International Conference On, 1–8. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1109/INCITEST59455.2023.10396871