ESG advertising in APAC drops back down to minimal level

Fund promotion accounted for almost all ESG messaging during Q1 2024, according to Fundamental Monitor data

Key points:

• Asset managers dedicated 1% of their overall advertising in the APAC region to the promotion of responsible investing during Q1 2024, down from 13% in Q4 2023.
• There were fewer active ESG advertisers in all APAC countries monitored by Fundamental Monitor.
• Almost all ESG messaging was within fund promotion, with only 2% dedicated to ESG brand campaigns and no insights promotion.

Asset managers dedicated only 1% of their overall advertising in the APAC region to ESG promotion during Q1 2024, down significantly from 13% in Q4 2023, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

During Q1, seven out of 59 active asset management advertisers promoted responsible investing, compared to 12 out of 71 active advertisers a quarter earlier. While during Q4, the active ESG advertisers dedicated 75% of their advertising to promoting ESG, this had dropped to 13% in Q1.

Three asset managers only focused on ESG promotion during Q1: Amundi Asset Management, Federated Hermes, and BNP Paribas Asset Management. While in Q4 all APAC markets monitored by Fundamental Monitor saw some ESG messaging – with seven active advertisers in Australia, six in Taiwan and five each in Hong Kong and Singapore – this had reduced in Q1 as well. There was no ESG promotion in India at all, and the number of ESG advertisers active in the other markets had dropped too: four in Australia, three in Singapore and two each in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.

Almost all ESG messaging was within fund promotion, with only 2% dedicated to ESG brand campaigns and no insights promotion. This is a change from Q4, when fund promotion accounted for 73% of all advertising, followed by brand at 22% and insights at 6%.

Data from Alphix Solutions, Fundamental Group’s marketing analytics and activation arm, showed that asset managers’ reduced ESG promotion was in line with a decline in investor interest in the topic. The consumption of ESG content on asset managers’ websites was down during the whole quarter in the APAC region, specifically during the last three weeks of March, when content consumption was around 30% below the 365-day rolling average.

Below are some examples of ESG campaigns that were in market in the APAC region during Q1 2024:

HSBC Asset Management

Amundi Asset Management

Janus Henderson