OLIVER Recognised as AdGreen’s Leading Superuser for 2023
It's a cause for celebration at OLIVER as it tops AdGreen's prestigious list as the 2023 creative agency superuser in its latest Annual Review. This recognition is testament to OLIVER's commitment to sustainable advertising practices and its proactive role in reducing the environmental impact of advertising production.
AdGreen, the industry initiative curbing the carbon impact of advertising production, ranks superusers based on their exceptional commitment to sustainability. This entails adopting lower carbon production practices and demonstrating a dedication to educating clients on the importance and benefits of more sustainable advertising production. OLIVER has excelled in all these aspects, reaffirming its status as an environmentally accountable industry leader.
OLIVER’s journey with AdGreen began in November 2021, and by the following year, it was in the Top 15 users of the Carbon Calculator. Since then, the production department has adopted AdGreen sustainable production principles throughout their ways of working. In 2023, they completed 121 projects using the measurement tool, positioning OLIVER as the top user of the tool, resulting in carbon reports for 121 productions across multiple brands and sectors, which will be used to inform and improve best practices across different types of production. But the benefits go beyond measurables and metrics, it’s also about empowering OLIVER’s people to implement change, both in front and behind the camera, as advocates of sustainability with clients, teams, and creatives alike.
Through extensive learning and development, OLIVER has embedded sustainable principles to every phase of the production process – from choosing partners, to briefing them on expectations for sustainability within the shoot approach – making it a key feature within the team’s expectations for collaboration. To date, over 600 employees across client services, project management, delivery, and creative are now trained in sustainable best practices; it has just been named as the company with the highest number of trained employees by AdGreen. OLIVER plans to roll this training out globally later this year and into 2025 as a key part of its wider strategy to measure and reduce its business emissions.
On the impact of the training, Fiona Rees-White, group head of integrated production at OLIVER, told AdGreen, “The level of engagement from our production team has been truly inspiring. They've not only embraced sustainable best practices but have become advocates, leading conversations, and expanding their creative repertoire to incorporate sustainable production approaches. This has had a halo effect, sparking enthusiasm among our colleagues and clients alike. They've taken the initiative to train and scale AdGreen sustainable production practices in other markets, fuelling an enthusiasm for positive change and invigorating other key initiatives, such as our work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks in production. This newfound passion has not only enhanced team morale but has also contributed to improved retention and hiring sustainably minded individuals into the team.”
Ed Howarth, deputy CEO at OLIVER UK, said of the achievement, “It’s brilliant to be recognised as AdGreen’s leading superuser for 2023. It’s a wonderful endorsement of the tireless efforts our teams make to embed sustainable business practices into OLIVER and its clients’ ecosystems. For us, this isn't a nice-to-have; it's woven into our company fabric, and we take our responsibility to do and be better very seriously. This award underlines our commitment to create impactful advertising while taking steps to ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come.”
Lucy Usher, OLIVER UK's sustainability lead, added, “Gaining the top spot in AdGreen’s superuser list is a significant milestone for us in our sustainability journey. It demonstrates that our consistent efforts towards streamlining production processes and adopting more sustainable practices have built up into being leaders in this space. Sustainability is not a momentary topic, but a journey we’re continually building on and learning from both for the benefit of our business and to be our clients’ closest partner in supporting their decarbonisation efforts. We plan to roll AdGreen sustainable production best practice out globally later this year as a key part of our wider strategy to continually measure and reduce our business emissions.”
Jo Fenn, global director at AdGreen, commented, “We’d like to applaud the team at OLIVER for their dedication to carbon measurement, leading the way for our industry to better understand the carbon impact of advertising production on the planet. As both the top user in the carbon calculator in 2023, and the company with the greatest number of employees completing AdGreen training, their desire to understand and mitigate their organisation’s carbon footprint is clear. Tackling the climate crisis requires us all to take action, and OLIVER is doing just that, adapting their processes to take meaningful steps towards a low carbon future.”
You can read AdGreen’s 2023 Annual Review here, and learn more about how OLIVER is weaving sustainable business practices into its own world, and those of its clients, by contacting sustainability lead, Lucy Usher.
