To bring to life the power of green energy, energy supplier OVO ran a digital out of home campaign that would only be shown when the grid was running on cleaner renewable energy.

OVO harnessed real-time data from the National Grid to ensure that the campaign would only be powered up and visible at times when the grid is greener to promote OVO’s Power Move scheme. The scheme rewards customers for shifting energy usage out of the peak times of 4-7pm on weekdays, to times when the grid is greener.

The digital out of home campaign was made up on a simple creative in the signature OVO green colour. Bold copy states: ‘If you’re reading this, it’s a greener time to use energy’.

In an industry first, OVO and its agency partners used real-time data from the National Grid and established a programmatic buying technology, designed, and built by Goodstuff and Assembly, to automatically bid when the grid is greener. The creative would only be displayed during those time frames ensuring that the copy is true if the ad is being displayed to audiences. Goodstuff and Saatchi & Saatchi collaborated to design, develop and execute the campaign.

“OVO creates game-changing, green technology and services for our customers, and it’s incredible that this is also true of our advertising.” says Alice Tendler, Director of Brand and Marketing at OVO, “This latest campaign is one example of the action we’re taking every day to find new, innovative ways to cut carbon across our entire business and customer base. And it shows that with the right creative minds and the right tech, it’s possible to find better ways of doing things.” 

Green media buying

This campaign marks the start of a journey towards greener trading in general for OVO, and Goodstuff will be applying this data technology as part of a long-term strategy to serve OVO ads in greener moments.

As the industry strives to become more sustainable, brands are looking at how to maximise every area of the campaign planning process and find ways to be more efficient. Beyond creative, brands are growing more interested in green media planning and putting pressure on publishers to find more sustainable solutions.

OVO’s savvy media buying method puts its brand goals into action, using technology to maximise on sustainable efficiency and creatively communicate the message to audiences.