When it comes to tackling climate change, Rob McFaul hopes that by knowing better, the ad industry will do better.

That’s the idea he, Lisa Merrick-Lawless, and Jonathan Wise came up with three years ago in a London pub. They loved their jobs in advertising. They were motivated to excel in their careers, but they couldn’t help but feel that doing so could come at the expense of the planet.

McFaul told Marketing Brew that “we all had a heightened awareness of the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. We also made a connection that in our day jobs, driving growth drives consumption, and consumption drives emissions.”

So they sought to change the industry from the inside. When word got out, McFaul said the movement grew to hundreds of marketers, from entry-level to senior executives. Now it’s a full-blown organization called Purpose Disruptors, with more than 1,500 members. The goal, according to its website, is to “reshape the advertising and marketing communications industry to only promote attitudes, lifestyles, behaviors, and brands aligned with a net-zero world by 2030.”

Class is in session

Since July 2021, Purpose Disruptors has been running #ChangeTheBrief, an alliance for agencies to learn how to embed sustainable practices in campaigns, particularly when pitching to clients, McFaul said.

“It’s just one more question in the briefing stage or as part of the insight-generation stage,” McFaul said.

Zoom in: Agency networks in the UK, like Omnicom, Havas, and WPP—which includes Mindshare, where McFaul currently works—have joined the #ChangeTheBrief Alliance. A variety of other UK agencies have also gotten on board.

• #ChangeTheBrief’s goals are to “change the image,” “change behavior,” and “change the business.” For the first two, McFaul gave the example of encouraging clients that use cars in their ads to put four people inside, reflecting more sustainable behaviors that could potentially encourage people to carpool.
• But only showing eco-friendly behaviors could be perceived as a cop-out or greenwashing, especially if the company behind the ads has engaged in non-eco-friendly business practices.
• Unlike groups like Clean Creatives, Purpose Disruptors said it does “not have a view on whether agencies should drop certain clients” for contributing to the climate crisis. As of now, McFaul confirmed that Purpose Disruptors does not measure KPIs or set minimums on how many sustainable briefs they do each year.

The hope, rather, is to promote a mindset shift in the industry and make eco-friendly decisions more normalized. Keep reading here.—KH

How many ads does it take to get to the end of a podcast? Unlike Tootsie Pop’s Mr. Owl, we weren’t satisfied with, “The world may never know.”

The podcast ad business now rakes in more than $1 billion in revenue per year. As it grows, podcast experts are still toying with how to best weave ads into episodes, weighing factors like the length and placement of ads.

Zoom in: Recently, we asked 14 pros in the space to share their thoughts over email on the ad load for podcasts. We break down how they approach ad loads—and what they think works best to keep podcasters, advertisers, and listeners happy.

Short-form

Podcasts that run for around 30 minutes tend to have anywhere from three to six ads spread out across one to four ad slots—either pre-rolls, mid-rolls, or post-rolls, sources said.

• Independent audio production agency Pod People runs four to six ads per 30-minute episode, said founder and CEO Rachael King: a 15-second pre-roll with the host shouting out sponsor names; two three-minute mid-roll slots with no more than two ads apiece; and a two-minute cross-promotion for another podcast at the end of the episode.
• Marty Michael, co-founder and CEO of host-read ad marketplace Gumball, recommended that general layout—one pre-roll, two mid-rolls, and a post-roll—but added that “there is no perfect answer.”
• “Shows know what their audiences like to hear and how often they want to hear it,” Michael said.

Less is more

Some in the industry think podcasts should have even fewer ads. Mikey Fowler, VP and GM of podcast network and production company Audiorama, who’s previously worked in audio for iHeartMedia and Barstool Sports, said just two ads per 30 minutes “is the perfect system for meaningful, impactful ad reads. Any more is, in my opinion, too many.”

By the numbers: Regardless, the average ad load in podcasting still remains less than that of CTV or linear TV, said Natrian Maxwell, GM of emerging channels at The Trade Desk. Thirty-minute TV episodes tend to have around 12–15 ads, he said, while podcasts of the same length have about four to nine ads.

As of the first quarter of 2022, about 5.5% of a podcast episode was made up of ads, according to podcast media planning platform Magellan AI’s quarterly benchmark report.

Read the full story here.—AM

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

TikTok: The app has bolstered its Creative Center platform with new insights.

2022, will you think about us? Bookmark this cheat sheet for social media image sizes, updated for this year.

Sparks fly: Some tips for how to reignite your creativity after experiencing a mental block.

Influencer marketing: Want your boss to invest more in influencer marketing? Pass along this guide from Mavrck—it’s full of tips on overcoming obstacles around budget and making influencer marketing a priority. Get it here.*

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Is it Monday already? Need a change of scenery? Be sure to explore 300+ job openings on the Marketing Brew Job Board!

Today’s featured openings:

• Performance Marketer at NDVR
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BRB, setting up a meeting with our editor to get to the bottom of why “Brandy Purpose” is capitalized in this 1959 ad.

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• The future of the “hybrid” event