Overview
The digital advertising ecosystem has a substantial carbon footprint, making sustainability a pivotal focus area. Increasingly, marketers must evaluate the numerous tools and platforms available based not only on engagement and cost-efficiency metrics, but also on environmental impact.
Such is the case for KINESSO, the tech-driven performance division of IPG Mediabrands, which supports the holding company’s overall commitment to sustainable initiatives and working with clients to minimize carbon emissions from campaigns—without sacrificing quality or performance.
One of KINESSO’s clients, a global nonprofit organization, aimed to raise awareness and drive donations for its annual fundraising event through a month-long display campaign. KINESSO sought an SSP partner that could:
- Minimize the environmental impact of serving digital ads
- Deliver high attention and engagement
- Ensure cost-efficient ad placements
Solution
Drawn to Index Exchange’s commitment to sustainable practices and high-quality, direct supply, KINESSO decided to partner with Index and run a segmented program to evaluate campaign performance and carbon output as compared to other SSPs.
The campaign was managed within KINESSO’s DSP, DV360, and segmented to evaluate effectiveness between Index and nine other SSPs. This offered a controlled environment to fully assess campaign KPIs using advanced measurement tools from Scope3, Adelaide, and DV360.
KPIs included:
- Carbon emissions: The grams of carbon per 1,000 impressions (gCO2PM) is calculated using Scope3’s modeling tools, which estimate the environmental impact of serving ads based on the energy usage of SSP infrastructures.
- Attention: Adelaide’s attention metric, AU, quantifies a digital ad’s ability to capture attention based on hundreds of media quality and engagement signals. AU aggregates signals like viewability, dwell time, clutter, and interactions into a single, predictive score tied to full-funnel outcomes.
- Performance: Other performance metrics, such as CPM and conversion rate, are collected through DV360 directly from campaign performance.
With access to premium inventory at scale through Index, KINESSO was able to design a campaign that helped the nonprofit effectively engage its desired audience through brand-safe, high-attention environments.
Further, Index’s modernized exchange, highly efficient infrastructure, and policies ensuring direct and transparent supply paths all helped to minimize the emissions required to deliver the campaign, reducing the environmental impact.
“Together, KINESSO and Index Exchange demonstrated how marketers can achieve both high engagement and environmental responsibility by making informed supply choices. Results like these show how our industry can work together to accelerate a more efficient and sustainable ecosystem.”
Joris Stevens, Global Head of Customer Success
Scope3
Results
Index Exchange significantly outperformed other SSPs in both carbon output and attention. The campaign effectively engaged and resonated with audiences, critical for awareness and fundraising campaigns such as this, all while improving sustainability.
Compared to other SSPs, Index delivered:
- 35% Lower carbon emissions (measured in gCO2PM)
- 6% Higher attention rate
Importantly, Index achieved these results with no difference in average CPM or conversion rate, underscoring that high-impact, sustainable advertising doesn’t need to compromise performance.
As an agency committed to sustainable and high-performing media strategies, we were impressed by Index Exchange’s ability to deliver cost-effective, premium inventory while significantly reducing carbon emissions. Their approach proves that impactful advertising and sustainability absolutely go hand in hand.”
Debrani Ghosh, VP, Performance Solutions Delivery
KINESSO
Interested in making your digital campaigns more sustainable? Get in touch to learn more about Index Exchange’s solutions.
