EY, Mars and Nomad Foods join WFA’s Planet Pledge

Twenty multinationals have signed up to Planet Pledge since the initiative launched in April

EY, Mars and Nomad Foods are the latest global brands to sign up to the World Federation of Advertisers’ Planet Pledge, a global commitment to making their marketing teams a force for positive change both internally and with the consumers who buy their products and services.

They will join launch signatories Bayer, Danone, Diageo, Dole Packaged Foods, Mastercard, Ørsted, Reckitt, Telefónica, Tesco and Unilever as well as Asahi Europe & International, Carlsberg Group, Ikea, L’Oréal, NatWest, PepsiCo and Pernod Ricard in using the power of their marketing teams to drive action on climate change.

Alongside this, two more national advertiser associations – Belgium and New Zealand – have joined forces with the WFA to promote the pledge to local advertisers and create a network of local champions, who do not need to be WFA members, around the world.

They join AAI (Ireland), ABA (Brazil), ABG (Gulf Cooperation Council), AEA (Spain), ANFO (Norway), APAN (Portugal), APPINA (Indonesia), BAA (Bulgaria), HAA (Greece), ISA (India), JAA (Japan), The Israel Marketing Association, ISBA (UK), MAA (Malaysia), Marketing Finland, MASA (South Africa), MSK (Kenya), PAS (Pakistan), Sveriges Annonsörer (Sweden), SZZV (Slovakia), Union des marques (France) and UPA (Italy), in taking Planet Pledge to local brands.

The Pledge was launched at WFA’s Global Marketer Week earlier this year and seeks to find a clear role for marketing as a positive force for environmental change by encouraging CMOs to take action in four key areas:

1. Commit to being a champion for the global Race to Zero campaign both internally within their organisations and to encouraging their marketing supply chain to do the same;
2. Scale the capability of marketing organisations to lead for climate action by providing tools and guidance for their marketers and agencies;
3. Harness the power of their marketing communications to drive more sustainable consumer behaviours; and
4. Reinforce a trustworthy marketing environment, where sustainability claims can be easily substantiated so that consumers can trust the marketing messages they are presented with as they seek to align their own consumption with their values.

Progress on all these goals will be reported annually by the WFA. The WFA will also work with advertising standards bodies worldwide and other relevant stakeholders in order to deliver industry guidance that will preserve trust in the evolving language of environmental claims in a way that enables consumers to make sustainable choices with confidence.

The Pledge is designed to amplify existing efforts and direct WFA members and their value chain partners towards them. In addition, it introduces new actions that marketing leaders can initiate and champion, thereby playing a distinct role in support of the transition to net zero.

“As the world begins to focus on the vital decisions that need to be made at COP26, I am thrilled that three more multinational brands have signed up to the WFA’s Planet Pledge. Marketing has huge power and we can harness it for good, encouraging consumers to buy low carbon products and services and change established behaviours. It’s a complex challenge but one that our industry is keen to embrace. We look forward to more brands signing up in the future,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA.

“We at EY believe that sustainability is everybody’s business – no more so than the role for brands in the race to zero.The WFA is leading the way in ensuring the entire marketing ecosystem plays its role in creating and shaping new expectations, behaviours and accelerated change for brands and we are delighted to be part of this Pledge,” said John Rudaizky, EY Global Brand & Marketing Leader.

“At Mars, we believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. Our Marketing Organization is bringing that belief to life by putting responsible, sustainable and inclusive marketing at the heart of what we do. Mars is proud to sign the Planet Pledge in support of our corporate sustainability goals and our mission to create mutual value for people, pets, partners and the planet through our brands,” said Jane Wakely, Lead Chief Marketing Officer at Mars, Inc.

“We’re pleased to be signing the WFA Planet Pledge, which is aligned to our own emission reduction targets, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. As one of the biggest advertisers in Europe, we take our role in stepping up and delivering a net-zero economy very seriously and will now focus on collaborating with our agencies, to help deliver the wider change needed across the entire advertising industry,” said Steve Axe, Chief Marketing Officer at Nomad Foods.