4.2.2.4 Active participation in initiatives of the industry
At the international or national level and covering all Company businesses:
- for more than 80 years, the communications sector hasbeen governed internationally by the Marketing Code of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce – www. iccwbo.org). This code is the benchmark in self-regulation and best practices for advertising and marketing (Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice – ICC Code). The founding principles are that all communication must be legal, decent, honest, truthful and socially responsible. This code is neutral in terms of technology and media; no player can derogate from it. It obviously includes digital communication and mobile applications, the Internet of Things. This code also incorporates issues related to data collection and protection and the right to privacy and takes into account the different needs of different types of audiences, including vulnerable people. Advertising claims related to climate change and environmental issues have been clarified, in order to clarify the proliferation of arguments and allow consumers to better navigate. The ICC Framework for Responsible Environmental Marketing Communication reports on this collective work on recommended standards. The objective of this guide designed for industry-professionals is to ban all forms of greenwashing. It includes an Environmental checklist intended to facilitate the teams’ work, to have clear arguments;
- Ad Net Zero: Publicis UK is one of the founding entities of the sector initiative led by the British agency inter-professional body. After making the calculator AdGreen available, the interprofessional organization and the Communication holding companies have decided to work together on a set of methodologies for calculating the carbon footprint and environmental footprint of the business lines, products and services. The challenge is to define a common framework ensuring that everyone uses the same measurement methods. In 2022, Ad Net Zero set up in the United States with the aim of defining a common methodology for the impact of broadcasting and the media;
- Groupe agencies play an active role in national and international ad hoc professional organizations. Worthy of note is the work carried out with the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the MRC (Media Rating Council) on the visibility of digital advertising, and how this can be quantified (viewability). Publicis Media was the first agency to be Gold Standard certified in the last four years. This work is done in close cooperation with other professional organizations such as the 4As (American Association for Advertising Agencies), particularly the 4As Privacy Committee, the ASRC (Advertising Self-Regulatory Council) in the United States, as well as the EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance);
- the Groupe took part in the launch of the GARM (GlobalAlliance for Responsible Media) in Cannes in 2019, at the behest of clients belonging to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Since 2020, Publicis Groupe is one of the founding members of PRAM (Partnership for Reasonable Addressable Media) with consumer protection as a priority: it is a consortium positioned on inclusion by developing principles and standards to properly address the various consumer Groupes. These projects require the Groupe’s commitment, in the same way as the work done collectively for many years on Online Behavioral Advertising and Native Advertising, both in the United States and in Europe;
- the Trustworthy Accountability Groupe (TAG) is the first cross-industry initiative of its kind dedicated to the fight against criminality in the digital advertising supply chain. Its work focuses on four areas: eradicating illicit traffic, combating malware, fighting against online piracy and promoting transparency (TAG Anti-Piracy Pledge). The goal is to apply brand safety; that is to say to ensure against brands appearing on inappropriate sites or environments. The TAG Registry was the second part of the “Verified by TAG” program, whose two-fold aim is to combat fraud and crime related to the online advertising sector, and to promote best practice. Publicis Groupe is one of the companies integrated in the TAG Registry. Publicis Media was the first Groupe to be awarded “TAG Platinum” status in 2019 and maintained its compliance since in the following areas: TAG Certified Against Fraud, TAG Certified Against Piracy, TAG Certified Against Malware are fully compliant with the TAG Brand Safety Guidelines;
- Digital Ad Trust: this French initiative, launched in 2017, has been fully operational for two years now and brings together all ecosystem players, including the Media agencies. The goal of this approach coordinated by IAB France (International Advertising Bureau) is to assess and promote responsible sites based on the quality of their content and the advertising practices used (cookie and browsing preference policies). This work resulted in a label qualifying the sites with the best practices in terms of editorial context, visibility of advertising campaigns, the fight against fraud, priority access to content and respect for personal data;
- Publicis Groupe has for several years been a member of the Coalition for Better Ads, which brings together all key players in the ecosystem (companies and trade organizations) around the common goal of improving online advertising standards. While it is clear that this finances many digital activities, it also has to better meet the expectations of consumers. One of the areas of work concerns the non-intrusive nature of advertising and the technical standards to be respected, notably regarding data protection.
4.2.2.5 Responsible marketing in action in agencies and with clients
Publicis France
Within the France Executive Committee, a country-wide CSR Department was created in 2019. A community of 50 CSR ambassadors was set up, meeting twice every month to share, learn and disseminate common actions within the agencies. Since 2020, Publicis France has been the leading network in the country in terms of number of CSR agencies labeled Active Agencies of the AACC in partnership with Afnor Certification with 11 agencies (out of 12 eligible), including nine at the highest level. Publicis France is also the leading communication Groupe in France in terms of employees trained and certified in digital eco-design by the Green IT collective. Eight entities are now members of the French Business Climate Pledge. These efforts should also be compared with actions to promote diversity (see Section 4.1.1.1).
In 2022, Publicis France continued to make CSR transformation a major strategic challenge, both internally and with its clients, in particular with its responsible communication program No Impact for Big Impact (NIBI), including the Positive Media Project think tank, the Positive by Publicis content platform, the Positive for You internal conferences or the inspiring Positive Talks.
