Four more major multinational companies have signed up to the World Federation of Advertisers’ Planet Pledge, a global commitment to making their marketing teams a force for positive change both internally and with the consumers who buy their products and services.
Asahi Europe & International, Carlsberg Group, Ingka Holding (largest IKEA franchisee) and Pernod Ricard will join launch signatories Bayer, Danone, Diageo, Dole Packaged Foods, Mastercard, Ørsted, Reckitt, Telefónica, Tesco and Unilever as well as L’Oréal, NatWest and PepsiCo in using the power of marketing to drive action on climate change.
ISBA, alongside 21 national advertiser associations have committed to promoting the pledge to local advertisers, highlighting the role marketing can play in delivering real change and creating a network of local champions around the world.
National associations who have signed up as WFA Planet Pledge partners are AAI (Ireland), ABA (Brazil), ABG (Gulf Cooperation Council), AEA (Spain), ANFO (Norway), APAN (Portugal), APPINA (Indonesia), BAA (Bulgaria), HAA (Greece), ISA (India), JAA (Japan), The Israel Marketing Association, ISBA (UK), MAA (Malaysia), Marketing Finland, MASA (South Africa), MSK (Kenya), PAS (Pakistan), Sveriges Annonsörer (Sweden), SZZV (Slovakia), Union des marques (France) and UPA (Italy).
The Pledge was launched at WFA’s Global Marketer Week in April this year and seeks to find a clear role for marketing as a positive force for environmental change by encouraging CMOs to take action in four key areas:
- Commit to being a champion for the global Race to Zero campaign both internally within their organisations and to encouraging their marketing supply chain to do the same;
- Scale the capability of marketing organisations to lead for climate action by providing tools and guidance for their marketers and agencies;
- Harness the power of their marketing communications to drive more sustainable consumer behaviours; and
- Reinforce a trustworthy marketing environment, where sustainability claims can be easily substantiated so that consumers can trust the marketing messages they are presented with as they seek to align their own consumption with their values.
Progress on all these goals will be reported annually by the WFA. The WFA will also work with advertising standards bodies worldwide and other relevant stakeholders in order to deliver industry guidance that will preserve trust in the evolving language of environmental claims in a way that enables consumers to make sustainable choices with confidence.
The Pledge is designed to amplify existing efforts and direct WFA members and their value chain partners towards them. In addition, it introduces new actions that marketing leaders can initiate and champion, thereby playing a distinct role in support of the transition to net zero.