• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 28, 2021

Havas Media Group has launched a new sustainability marketplace in the UK. 

Existing Havas Media Group UK clients EDF, giffgaff and O2 are the first brands to sign up to the sustainability marketplace, with more expected to be announced soon, the company said. 

Digital ad platform PubMatic, ad-tech startup Good Loop, The Guardian and ad-tech firm TripleLift are all confirmed as partners for the new effort.

The new sustainability marketplace is designed to enable clients to buy ads in media channels that align with their own sustainability agendas. Brands signing up to the marketplace will be offered access to publishers and networks that are focused on building a sustainable media ecosystem, and that foster sustainability-oriented content. It’s also designed to reach audiences who are engaged with sustainability issues.  

Havas Media said its definition of sustainability reflects the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, encompassing environmental, social and economic issues. And clients and partners, it added, should "ideally" be committed to becoming a B Corp. Participating partners must pledge to abide by the tenets laid out by the UK’s Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) which Havas Media joined last October.

The marketplace is available for clients to plug into as part of their standard media targeting, in the form of incremental strategies on their media plans.

The sustainability marketplace follows the launch last August of the agency’s social equity marketplace in the UK, offering advertisers a way to support underrepresented groups with their digital paid media investment.