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Commercials Get Greener and Greener

, by Edoardo Croci, Sabrina Melandri and Tania Molteni - Universita' Bocconi, translated by Alex Foti
Environmental advertising is growing rapidly, says a IEFE Bocconi study, right through the economic crisis that plagues other sectors. It has shown an expansion of 108%, even as the overall expenditure for advertising has been struggling through a 13% downturn

Over the last five years, the number of ads referring to environmental features of products has grown by almost 500%. On one side this is due to the higher diffusion of green products, on the other it is a new communication strategy on the part of corporations, which are responding to consumers increasingly worried about ecological sustainability.

The disclosure of information on the full environmental impact of products, from production to consumption and final disposal, is increasingly a competitive factor. In the European Commission's roadmap towards a resource-efficient EU, environmental information plays a big role in orienting consumers toward more sustainable goods and services, by clarifying the environmental costs incurred over the product's lifecycle.

IEFE, Bocconi's research center on energy policy and environmental management, has discussed the issue with Assocomunicazione, Assorel, and Nielsen in a symposium on environmental information and communication. Green commercials featured between 2006 and 2010 where analyzed, by looking at advertising campaigns on print, radio and TV, and assessing the trends in terms of media and investments.

The sample was made up of 1,410 observations. The number of green ads has grown rapidly in the late 2000s: the number of advertisers grew by 440% over the 2006-2010 period, while the number of advertisements grew by a staggering 1,400%. Correspondingly, net investments in green advertising grew by 430% in the period considered. It's noteworthy that even in 2009, when advertising spending shrank by a shocking 13%, environmentally-conscious advertising kept growing at the rate of +108%.

In 2010, the total Italian market for advertising was about €6.8 billion, while environmental advertising was around €70 million. In term of the media channel chosen, TV was primarily chosen, although its weight declined from 78% to 61% from 2006 to 2010. Magazines also experienced a relative decline, from 14% to 5%, while radio and newspapers have increased from 1% to 18% and from 7% to 16%, respectively. Web was not included in the analysis, although it is by far the most dynamic segment in green advertising.

In terms of the industries involved, the automotive sector invested the most in environmental advertising in 2010 (52% of green advertising market vs 30% in 2006). The second most important sector was utilities and construction, accounting for 19% of spending in green advertising in 2010, up from 10% in 2006.

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