Omnicom Media Group has begun measuring media owners on their environmental, social and governance practices so its advertiser clients can better understand the ESG impact of their adspend decisions.
The Government is the first to use the new ESG tool, called OMG Impact, and other clients will be able to use it in the “coming months,” OMG said.
OMG Impact uses data from specialist agency Legacy Media to provide an “ESG index” for historical media investment, with scores around 12 categories ranging from Energy and Climate Change to Diversity and Labour Rights. The data is refreshed monthly to ensure that media owner efforts in this area are recognised, and OMG said it will work with media partners to highlight the areas where they are behind their peers.
The UK Government will access OMG Impact — which will be integrated into the Omni open operating system that supports all Omnicom agencies — through its Omnicom Media Group buying agency OmniGov at MG OMD. The Government is using a custom algorithm to report against social value, with the total average performance rating for the whole ad industry being 56.4 out of 100. Initial results from OMG Impact have shown that the UK Government’s score is above 56.4, but OMG would not say by how much.
Stephanie Parry, marketing procurement senior category lead at the Crown Commercial Service (which commissions advertising on behalf of the Government) said: “It is all-important that the public sector is able to work with media owners that represent all sections of the British public. Measuring the ethics of the platforms they invest in, and then benchmarking them against our social value framework, will ensure the right investments are being made.
“It allows us collectively to minimise risk relating to impacts on society and the environment, and ensures media spend through our framework agreement is accountable to all stakeholders.”
Meanwhile, Legacy Media will have access to OMG’s resources and in-house specialists to grow its dataset of rated media suppliers, utilising a methodology agreed by both parties. This should allow OMG to expand measurement to media specialising in underrepresented groups, including community media channels or small and medium enterprises.
Bhavin Balvantrai, chief market analyst at OMG, added: “The launch of OMG Impact marks the first time Legacy Media has partnered directly with a global agency partner and opened access to its full datasets. This stands as testament to OMG’s status as a trusted partner across the media ecosystem.”
