Green Thinking Is Growing for The Financial Times

Funding climate journalism is becoming less of an existential dilemma as more brands are waking up to the power of having a sustainable strategy—and turning to publishers for help. The Financial Times noticed the upswing in brands wanting to talk about their sustainability credentials over the last 24 months, when more mainstream advertisers including banks, tech companies and consumer goods brands broached the subject. The publisher estimates that over the last 24 months, the value of campaigns relating to sustainability has tripled. “Commercially, and from a reader point of view, this has jumped to the mainstream, it’s a topic of conversation for everyone rather than just for oil company PR,” said the FT’s chief commercial officer Jon Slade. “It’s in the interest of readers and commercial partners. Sometimes those interests don’t align.” P&G’s Marc Pritchard to Co-Chair Adweek’s Sustainability Council Over the last two years, publishers like The Guardian, Bloomberg Media and The Economist have launched more environmental-focused content verticals as reader interest has gathered pace. Historically, funding climate coverage has been difficult when it's been a less popular topic. Increasingly, brands are more willing to join the fray. Two-thirds of FT readers want more climate and business news In January, the FT surveyed readers and found that two-thirds wanted to read more on climate and business. As a result, it launched a dedicated hub, Climate Capital, which is succeeding with readers. The number of readers consuming climate-related content has risen by 37%. The median time spent on climate content is nearly double the FT average. Looking at non-subscribers, climate was predominantly a topic that interests them, which fits into the FT’s overall subscriber strategy. The publisher has not dug into how much climate coverage converts readers to subscribers. As an indicator, the FT’s Moral Money newsletter—which is focused on environmental, social and corporate governance investment and is free to follow—has been a powerful subscriber acquisition tool. This points to the value for subscription strategies in using content sections to drive awareness of the whole proposition, said Slade. The pandemic put a hurdle in firms’ sustainability efforts as brands grappled with challenges around messaging. But since October, as more ad budgets loosened up, activity has started to ramp up again. Beyond greenwashing Partly, this is spurred by The United Nations Climate Change Conference this November. Corporations are also beginning to understand that a solid sustainable strategy helps engage customers, staff and corporate stakeholders. Facebook Unveils Project17 to Help Meet United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals “We’re getting briefed a lot more and asked about how we place clients' ad spend in the most meaningful environments around sustainability,” said Simon Bevan, chief investment officer, Havas Media Group. “During the pandemic, the majority of media investment went to performance. We’re now seeing rebalance of brand as well,” which lends itself to brands outlining longer-term sustainable communications strategies. Another change is that greenwashing is no longer accepted, now that staff, customers and corporate owners are looking for more accountability. Fund manager BlackRock has been vocal about pushing sustainable investing, pledging to double the number of sustainability-focused exchange traded funds it offers, among other initiatives. A growing number of firms are sharing how much of their research and development budget goes towards ethical endeavors. “As a media owner, we have a responsibility to make sure messages displayed are representative,” said Slade. “We’re conscious we have an influential audience and role in this debate, we have to be mindful of what partners are saying and check their validity.” Increasingly, clients are asking the FT to show its own credentials. This led it to launch a number of sustainability pledges like setting science-based targets to reduce its total emissions through 2030. As part of the FT’s Climate Capital coverage, it's running virtual events and launching a climate council, an-invite only network which will meet quarterly to share their views on what role businesses can play in tackling climate change. This week the FT hosted a ticketed event, Climate Capital Live with 2,100 delegates, over 40% at the c-suite level. Speakers included Greta Thunberg, Bill Gates and Jane Fonda, while brands like bank HSBC and consulting group BCG sponsored the event. Increasingly The FT is tying digital events into core topics. As such, FT Live has kicked off the year strongly, having booked 54% of its 2021 revenue already, the publisher said. According to one media consultant, companies are hesitant to sponsor digital events after a lackluster 2020. “Now we're thinking about how to leverage that for subscribers," said Slade. "This year, for all publishers, if you continue to think in silos you run out of steam." Trust, Demand, Sustainability: What’s Next for the CPG Industry?

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Brand Appetite Around Green Thinking Is Growing for The Financial Times

Over the last 24 months, the value of campaigns related to sustainability has tripled

Lucinda Southern

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