Ad Net Zero, an advertising agency with carbon impact reduction on its mind, has appointed John Osborn as the new USA director.
The former OMD US and BBDO New York CEO is to aid the agency’s response to the climate crisis and help grow its supporter base with like-minded individuals and brands.
Osborn’s responsibility will be to build upon Global Group’s commitment to adopt the Ad Net Zero 5-point action plan and oversee its integration into the US business.
His appointment can be seenas an invitation to the US ad market, which represents nearly half of the global ad spend, to join the international chapter of companies committed to reducing their carbon footprint.
Osborn will be participating at 2022 ANA's Masters of Marketing Conference at the end of October, where he will be talking about sustainability and the US ad market's response to the climate crisis. Then on November 9 and 10, he will be joining several other eminent speakers at the Ad Net Zero Global Summit.
In addition to that, Ad Net Zero USA will take part in Advertising Week New York and join a special VIP reception at the British Consulate hosted by Stillwell Partners and the British Government.
During the 2022 Cannes Lions festival of creativity, Ad Net Zero announced its international rollout, spreading from the UK into the USA and Europe.
With the “All for None” tagline, the agency hopes to raise awareness about the advertising industry’s impact on climate and promote sustainability.
Major advertising agency holding companies such as Dentsu International, WPP, Publicis Groupe, Havas, Interpublic Group and Omnicom all backed Ad Net Zero’s international rollout, and so did tech giants such as Google and Meta.
Besides digital marketing agency holders and tech companies, European media company Sky and Unilever, a British multinational consumer goods company, showed their support for the rollout.
In 2020, the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA, launched the Ad Net Zero program with the goal of reducing carbon emissions from UK advertising operations to net zero by 2030. However, in order to make a real, substantial change, the program needed to spread beyond the UK’s borders.
“Think about the UK as about 5 percent of global advertising spend,” said Stephen Woodford, CEO of Advertising Association. “What we do here matters, but obviously it will make much more impact if it rolls out to the rest of the world.”
Now that it has, it remains to be seen how the US businesses will respond to this higher calling.
