COP26: Five brands feature in first 'green' TV ad break

Sky Media is aiming to ensure that COP26 is not just political hot air by running a series of 170″ ad breaks, featuring five brands promoting their green and ethical credentials in what is claimed to be a UK first, with all ads being certified as carbon neutral.

The Sky Zero Footprint Fund initiative is a £2m advertising fund which supports businesses to inspire others to be “Net Zero Carbon”.

The fund was established to help accelerate and amplify initiatives that “drive positive behavioural change and tangible impact towards creating a more sustainable future”.

In a live judging event held in October, sanitary product brand Here We Flo secured the £1m grand prix with the other four finalists, food sharing app OLIO, green energy firm OVO Energy, eco nappy brand Pura and ethical fund Path Financial, each receiving £250,000 in media value.

The five winning ads were all produced following best practice advice and recommendations from the Advertising Association’s AdGreen programme, in which Sky is founding member.

The special ad break is claimed to a first for British TV, with all ads produced to be Net Zero Carbon with the intention to inspire positive change amongst viewers.

Here We Flo is running The Period Drama creative, designed playfully recreate a Victorian era dinner setting to promote its natural and biodegradable sanitary products.

Against the backdrop of one of the UK’s largest landfill sites, a chorus of children sing a haunting rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World – encouraging people to share more and waste less for OLIO and, in the OVO Energy ad, viewers are asked to make a quick and easy change, turning off the lights in their living room – saving energy and enhancing the viewing experience.

Meanwhile, Pura uses a cast of “spokesbabies”, to encourage viewers to start a wipe revolution by switching to sustainable products; looking after their families and the planet a and Path Financial reveals that switching your pension to an ethical investment option is 21 times more impactful than all of the other changes you can make.

Sky group chief marketing officer and corporate affairs and people officer Debbie Klein said: “At Sky, we’re proud to be playing our part as the principal partner and media partner at COP26, and we’re delighted to be working with like-minded partners throughout the summit to cast a spotlight on sustainability and positive behavioural change during TV ad breaks.”

The 170″ ad break runs in Wild Birds of Australia S1 at 8pm on Sky Nature and Sky News at 9 with Anna Botting – and will continue to run across Sky News and Sky Nature every day for the duration of the COP26 conference, which ends on November 12.

Each of the five winning brands will then use their prize money to plan and launch their own campaigns tailored to their individual objectives and audiences.