APAC sees a drop in ESG advertising activity

The region saw less ESG advertising by fewer asset managers, Fundamental Monitor found

Key points:

• While ESG campaigns made up 14% of all APAC asset management advertising during Q2, this had dropped to 9% in Q3
• The third quarter also saw a drop in the number of ESG advertisers in market, down from 30 in Q2 to 26 in Q3
• Asset managers were more focused on the promotion of ESG insights during Q3, which made up 39% of all ESG advertising, up from 25% in Q2

The APAC region saw a drop in ESG advertising activity during Q3 2022 with a lower percentage of overall advertising dedicated to ESG and fewer ESG advertisers in market, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

While ESG campaigns made up 14% of all APAC asset management advertising during Q2, this had dropped to 9% in Q3. We see a similar drop when only looking at the advertising of active ESG advertisers, where the promotion of responsible investing accounted for 22% of their advertising spending in Q3 compared to 28% in Q2.

The third quarter also saw a drop in the number of ESG advertisers in market, down from 30 in Q2 to 26 in Q3. Four asset managers were solely focused on promoting ESG: Aviva Investors, abrdn, UOB Asset Management and Australian Ethical.

All markets saw some ESG advertising activity, with most advertisers present in Australia (17), Hong Kong (11) and Singapore (9).

Asset managers were more focused on the promotion of ESG insights during Q3, which made up 39% of all ESG advertising, up from 25% in Q2. ESG brand campaigns accounted for 36% (down from 41%) and fund promotion 25% (down from 35%).

Below are some examples of the type of ESG campaigns that were in market in Asia Pacific during Q3 2022:

Nomura Asset Management

Fidelity International

abrdn