UK's largest advertisers call for greener agencies

In May 2007, the COI called for agencies to improve their environmental credentials or risk being axed from their roster. In October, Procter and Gamble announced a sales target for environmentally improved products.

Many advertisers are reviewing the way they source materials, promote their products and dispose of waste, partly to win consumer approval, and partly to appease regulators and reduce future energy costs and taxation.

Some agencies may be responding faster than others, but there is a lot of action as companies recognise it will save them money in the longer term.

To assess how agencies are responding, Marketing has teamed with the Ethical Reputation Index (ERI) to publish the UK's first Green Agency Index which will ask 140 of the UK's top agencies to report how they are reducing their environmental impact. Invitations to participate were sent out to agency CEOs on Tuesday 8th January and results are due back by 21st January.

The results of the ERI Green Agency survey will be published in Marketing magazine in the coming weeks, and will be on hand to help clients and advertisers to choose their agencies based on a similar footing.

What do you think - is the communications industry is responding as fast as clients and consumers want?

Consumers call companies on false green claims

Last year there was a big rise in the number of people reporting false green claims to the Advertising Standards Authority reports Marketing magazine. Certainly consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues, but their awareness of greenwashing is increasing too. Marketers and their agencies need to be more aware of their customers' increasing sophistication.