Sky Media Launches Net Zero Carbon Ad Break Featuring Footprint Fund Winners

Sky Media announced the launch of a series of special Net Zero Carbon ad breaks to coincide with COP26. The 170” ad break will be ‘presented by Sky Zero’ and include all five winners of the Sky Zero Footprint Fund that will run across Sky Nature and Sky News for the next two weeks.

The Sky Zero Footprint Fund initiative is a £2m advertising fund which supports businesses to inspire others to join the journey to 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, Here We Flo secured the £1 million Grand Prix with the other four finalists, OLIO, OVO Energy, Pura and 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 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: The Period Drama creative playfully recreates a Victorian era dinner setting to promote their natural and biodegradable sanitary products.
• OLIO: 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.
• OVO Energy: The ad asks viewers to make a quick and easy change, turning off the lights in their living room – saving energy and enhancing the viewing experience!
• Pura: Using a cast of “spokesbabies”, this ad encourages viewers to start a wipe revolution by switching to sustainable products; looking after their families and the planet.
• Path Financial: Revealing to viewers that switching your pension to an ethical investment option is 21 times more impactful than all of the other changes you can make, the ad asks Brits to take the right path.

Debbie Klein, Group CMO, Corporate Affairs & People Officer at Sky, 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.

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, commented, “We’re thrilled to finally bring all our Footprint Fund winners together in a single adbreak. We know that advertising has a key part to play in driving sustainability and TV has the power to inspire change like no other. All our winners are encouraging the nation to make simple but achievable changes – all of which can make a meaningful impact to the planet”

Susan C. Allen, Co-Founder and interim SHE-EO of Here We Flo said: “We’re so proud to finally have a wide-reaching platform to talk about periods and sustainability in ways that have never been done before; and we’re so excited to bring our Period Drama into the world alongside the Hatch London team!”

The 170” ad break launches today – 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 12 November. Thereafter, each of the five winning brands will use their prize money to plan and launch their own campaigns tailored to their individual objectives and audiences.

Sky is the Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26, and alongside reaching its target of net carbon zero by 2030, is committed to support the delivery of a successful and ambitious summit working alongside the UK Government who hold the COP26 Presidency.