Campaign

This awards scheme was designed to change the way we work and the work we make, with a real focus on the real-world benefits. The categories celebrated the work; process; and the companies producing the work. The winners varied from advertisers to production companies, recognising the work from insight and inception to execution and impact - i.e. strategy, process, the creative work, measurement, and environmental and commercial outcomes.

On Wednesday 23 November these inaugural awards celebrated the best of the best. Congratulations to our shortlisted, highly commended and of course, to our winners!

"Campaign is delighted to partner with Ad Net Zero on these important awards, which will recognise the companies and organisations that are leading the way on sustainability and the move to a net zero carbon economy. We want the Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards to be a benchmark of excellence and a source of inspiration – at a critical moment when all of us need to do more to protect and regenerate our planet.”

Gideon Spanier, UK editor-in-chief of Campaign

The Ad Net Zero programme is the industry-wide drive to reduce the carbon impact of developing, producing and running advertising to real net zero by end 2030 and commit to make practical changes in the way you run your advertising operations. Launched in the UK in November 2020 by the Advertising Association, IPA, and ISBA, it counts over 100 advertisers, agencies, commercial media owners and production companies in its membership.

Entries for these awards are available to the whole industry.

Alex Sobel MP said:

“The climate emergency has been an issue I have long campaigned on and one we must get right for the future of our planet. Advertising has a pivotal role in helping to shift our economy to a more sustainable footing, by promoting products and services that are better for the planet and encouraging positive changes in people’s behaviour. These new awards seek to do exactly that, recognising the best work from the advertising industry to help tackle the adverse effects of global warming and inspiring even more to be done as quickly as possible."

Sector Specific Categories

Business & Industrial

Clothing & Accessories

Computers

incl. games & consoles

Cosmetics & Personal Care

Drink

Electronics, Household Appliances & Tech

Entertainment & Leisure

incl. gardening & agriculture and leisure equipment

Food

Finance

Government Social Political Organisation

Health & Wellbeing

Household Equipment & DIY

Household FMCG

Media

Motors

Office Equipment & Stationery

Property

Retail

incl. online retail and mail order

Telecoms

Travel & Transport

Specialist Categories

Best Business Transformation

This award will identify the best example of a business or organisation that, with its partners in the advertising and marketing services sector, has demonstrated a reduction of carbon in the product or service it provides to customers, a proven shift in customer behaviour towards this solution, backed by evidence of best practice in sustainable advertising operations.

Green Event

We will be looking for evidence of how the decisions made around the development and delivery of an event was informed by information about the carbon involved in its different aspects, whether a tool like a carbon calculator was used to track this carbon, how decisions helped to reduce the carbon impact and examples of best practice for future events.

Green Media Plan

We will be looking for evidence of how the carbon footprint of a media plan was considered, what information was used to inform choices about different media channels, whether there was a carbon value attached to the media plan, whether that was accounted for or off-set, if any media decisions can demonstrate a reduction in carbon without impacting the reach and performance of the campaign.

Green Production

We will be looking for evidence of steps taken to measure, reduce and report carbon involved in the production of advertising. This could include reports from carbon calculators such as AdGreen along with details on decisions made to actively reduce carbon from ad production while maintaining the full creative impact.

International Category

Following the announcement that Ad Net Zero will now be rolled out internationally, we are accepting work that is delivered in territories outside of the UK. This category is exclusively for campaigns where work is being delivered in international markets, either by a UK-based company or by a company from another part of the world.

Sustainability Best Practice Award - Adtech Services

This award will recognise best practice in building a more sustainable way of working within an organisation. It is open to all companies that operate in the UK advertising eco-system, from media owners to advertising and marketing services agencies, from brands to tech companies. We are looking for examples of leadership that should be encouraged and adopted more broadly by our industry.

Sustainability Best Practice Award - Production & Experiential

Sustainability Best Practice Award - Agency

Sustainability Best Practice Award - Media Owner

Campaign of the Year

Alessandra has an international background in advertising and Marketing and is obsessed with developing people and growing brands, seeing these as the ultimate levers to a successful business. She joined Tesco in March 2017, as Chief Customer Officer, where she brings together all of the disciplines of marketing, advertising, innovation, loyalty and insight to create strong and distinctive brand proposition – putting customers at the heart of Tesco.

Prior to Tesco, Alessandra worked for Unilever for over 20 years, holding different board- level positions in Marketing and General Management in Italy, Central & Eastern Europe and the USA. Alessandra started her career in Advertising at JWT Milan, as an apprentice straight out of School. She worked in Advertising for 12 years in Italy and the UK.

She has two grown up children, lives in London travelling around town on a baby-blue Vespa. Alessandra is the Chair of Teens Unite, a charity helping young adults facing cancer, live their best life.

Sebastian Munden is the Executive Vice President & General Manager, Unilever UK & Ireland and joined Unilever in 1990 as a marketing trainee at Lever Brothers in the UK after completing his MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford University. After several brand management and customer team positions in Home and Personal Care, he was appointed category director for Laundry UK in 1997.

Sebastian then went on to hold various senior roles across the US and Europe before being appointed Vice President of the Laundry Category for Europe in 2008 and head of Global Marketing Operations in 2012.

Sebastian now leads the UK & Ireland business, a position he has held since 2017. Sebastian has pioneered new ways of working across Unilever to accelerate the agility of the business, helping to respond to the challenges of todays competitive environment in an ever more connected world. He champions the sustainable packaging agenda and the inclusion of more diverse young talent in the workforce, and into Unilever. He is married to Elisabeth and has two children.