Fund promotion most prevalent in Europe’s ESG advertising

Fewer ESG advertisers active in Europe during Q1, Fundamental Monitor finds

Key points:

• Fund promotion has taken over from insights as the most popular ad purpose for ESG advertisers in Europe
• ESG advertising made up 18% of all asset management advertising during Q1 2022
• There were a total of 43 ESG advertisers active in the European market in Q1

ESG advertisers in Europe have moved away from promoting thought leadership pieces towards more fund promotion during Q1 2022, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

In Q1, fund promotion made up 51% of all ESG advertising in Europe, up from 27% in Q4 2021. Conversely, the promotion of insights was less popular, with thought leadership making up only 13% of all ESG advertising in Q1, down from 55% in Q4. Brand campaigns saw an increase from 18% to 35% over the same period.

ESG advertising made up 18% of all asset management advertising during Q1 2022. This is slightly down from Q4, when ESG advertising’s share of all advertising was 19%.

Looking only at the asset managers who were actively promoting ESG, they spent 40% of all their advertising spend on ESG during Q1, compared to 21% in Q4.

There were a total of 43 ESG advertisers active in the European market during Q1, compared to 61 a quarter earlier. Ten advertisers only advertised their ESG capabilities: BBVA, Federated Hermes, Lombard Odier, Candriam, FlexShares, BMO Global Asset Management, FE Investments, DWS, Comgest and Nordea.

Most European countries monitored by Fundamental Monitor saw some ESG advertising in Q1, apart from Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway. The UK had the highest number of different ESG advertisers present (22 advertisers), followed by Italy (15) and Switzerland (14).

Below are some examples of the ESG advertisements that were in market in Europe during Q1 2022: