To help advertisers gain better visibility of the societal and environmental impact of media, Omnicom Media Group (OMG) UK has launched a new tool OMG Impact. The tool helps brands to benchmark and track ESG goals against media investment strategies.

The tool, which is powered by global ESG data specialist Legacy Media, allows OMG UK to measure media owners on environmental, social and governance practices. It can be used to benchmark how media investment strategies align with clients’ ESG commitments. 

The tool provides an ESG index for historical media investment, with the ability to deep dive into scores around 12 ESG categories. These categories span everything from Energy and Climate Change to Community and Development and Diversity and Labour Rights.  

The UK Government will be the first to use the OMG Impact, which will then be rolled out to other UK clients across the group in coming months. The UK Government will access OMG Impact through its Omnicom Media Group buying agency OmniGov at MG OMD.

Sustainable KPIs

The tool has been developed to help the UK Government and other OMG clients make more informed, more responsible media investment decisions. Its current focus is on climate and so aligns with UN Sustainable Development goals. Data will be refreshed monthly to ensure that media owner efforts in this area are recognised, and OMG will work with media partners to highlight the areas where they are behind their peers.

The development allows clients to make ESG a reporting metric so that the wider impact of their media supply chain investment can be measured. By giving Legacy Media access to OMG’s resources and in-house specialists, the tool will have access to a rich dataset of rated media suppliers and expand measurement to media specialising in underrepresented groups including minority-owned media channels, small and medium enterprises.

As part of this focus on ESG as a measurable KPI, the UK Government is using a custom algorithm to report against social value, a variation on ESG. The total average performance rating for the advertising industry is 56.4 out of 100. OMG Impact has found that the UK Government is already operating at a higher ESG investment performance rating than the total advertising average. 

“It is all-important that the public sector is able to work with media owners that represent all sections of the British public. Measuring the ethics of the platforms they invest in, and then benchmarking them against our social value framework, will ensure the right investments are being made. It allows us collectively to minimise risk relating to impacts on society and the environment, and ensures media spend through our framework agreement is accountable to all stakeholders.” explains Stephanie Parry at Crown Commercial Service.

With greenwashing in the industry rife and the climate crisis reaching peak priority, this new tool will be able to provide data and act as the basis for future more sustainable targets. 

OMG Impact adds to OMG’s existing offering of ESG products and initiatives designed to help  brands commit to safer and more responsible practices. These initiatives include a Carbon Calculator that helps planners quantify the carbon generated through each channel planning scenario, a Council for Accountability and Standards in Advertising (CASA) which advocates for quality, safety and transparency in media investment and the Diverse Creators Network, a curated marketplace designed to help brands discover and partner with Black, Hispanic, Women, AAPI, and LGBTQ+  creators who align with their objectives and KPIs.

As tracking change on ESG goals becomes an essential shift for brands, tools that enable brands to make more informed decisions will act as the basis of a more sustainable and transparent advertising industry.