Sky Zero Footprint Fund: Local Heroes awards eight SMEs with regional TV campaigns to drive growth and sustainability

Eight local heroes receive a £20,000 TV campaign from Sky Media’s Regional Footprint Fund, empowering them to drive positive change, champion sustainability, and grow their businesses within their communities.

Sky Media has proudly announced the eight trailblazing winners of the first Sky Zero Footprint Fund: Local Heroes, an initiative that empowers eco-innovative SMEs by providing TV advertising to amplify their impact.

A spin-off from the award-winning Sky Zero Footprint Fund which has just relaunched, Local Heros celebrates businesses from different regions across the UK and Ireland, awarding a £20,000 local TV advertising campaign, along with up to £2,500 towards creative production through AdSmart from Sky. This means these ‘local heroes’ will be able to engage specific audiences and locations, ensuring they connect with the right audiences to drive meaningful change and support the growth of their businesses.

The eight winning local heroes

From repurposing waste to creating eco-friendly products, these ‘local heroes’ are proving that sustainability and success go hand in hand:

• Scotland: GLORIAH is redefining menopause care with traceable, palm oil-free products in biodegradable, plastic-free packaging. Their award-winning refill scheme is setting new sustainability benchmarks, with a bold plan to hit net-zero by 2027.
• Northern Ireland: Boatyard Distillery is Northern Ireland’s only B Corp distillery. They’ve ditched plastic, introduced refillable bottles and are on the path to carbon neutrality by 2027. To encourage sustainability, they reward customers with reusable pouches for discounted refills, making it easier to drink responsibly in every sense.
• North: Suma isn’t just ethical – it’s revolutionary. As a worker-owned cooperative, they are aiming to achieve Net Zero by 2035, offer vegan, organic and fairtrade produce, and actively support food banks and community clean-ups. Their equal-wage model and strong LGBTQ+ advocacy demonstrate that doing good is built into their DNA.
• Midlands: Penrhos Spirits turns wonky fruit into premium gin, reducing waste while supporting local farmers. Their 100% recycled aluminium bottles have even inspired industry giants and their zero-waste approach, reusing gin waste as fertiliser and water recycling – demonstrates their commitment to a better planet.
• Wales: Halen Môn’s success is tied to clean seas and sustainable resources. As a B Corp, they go beyond sea salt – reusing distilled water for seaweed barrels, cutting carbon and minimising waste. As champions of sustainable food careers, they’re proving great taste and green thinking go hand in hand.
• London: Seep is cleaning up the industry with plastic-free, compostable products designed to break down naturally. Every product and packaging is home-compostable or fully biodegradable, setting a new standard for the cleaning tools category.
• South East: Green Doors turns waste into opportunity. Since 2014, they’ve been rescuing discarded doors and transforming them into high-quality products, tackling construction waste one door at a time. With commitment to practical sustainability, they’re proving that a circular economy isn’t just possible – it’s profitable.
• South West: Grace & Green, founded in a Bristol basement, don’t just create sustainable period products – they believe menstruation dignity should be a universal right. Their innovative all-gender range leads the way for inclusivity, while their Period Dignity initiative tackles poverty, stigma and promotes sustainability for a better future.

The winning businesses are not only driving sustainability but also actively engaging with their local communities. From supporting local farmers and food banks to promoting sustainable careers and community clean-ups, these SMEs are making a tangible difference in their regions.

David Sanderson, Director of AdSmart Local and Development said, “These winning businesses are raising the bar for sustainability, proving that it’s possible to make a positive impact while scaling your business. We’re immensely proud to support these local heroes by helping them reach the right audiences with targeted regional advertising, enabling them to share their inspiring stories and drive real, transformative change”.

This campaign is part of Sky Media’s continued commitment to championing sustainable businesses, demonstrating how advertising can influence positive behavioural change. For full details and to find out how to apply for the national Sky Zero Footprint Fund, visit www.skymedia.co.uk/skyzerofootprintfund.

Sky Media launches ‘Footprint Fund’ spin-off to support sustainable SMEs

Sky is looking for the nation’s help to uncover and reward regional businesses that are committed to a more sustainable future as it launches the Sky Zero Footprint Fund ‘Local Heroes’ initiative. 

Sky Media, has announced that its award-winning Sky Zero Footprint Fund is launching an additional initiative dedicated to SME and local businesses called ‘Local Heroes’.

Launched in 2021, The Sky Zero Footprint Fund initiative was created to inspire positive behaviour change and help start-ups and established brands accelerate their sustainable initiatives nationally, using the power of TV.

The new fund brings the same promise to local and regional businesses. The ‘Sky Zero Footprint Fund Local Heroes’ will be awarding nine businesses from different regions of the UK and the Republic of Ireland £20,000/ €20,000 of media value to spend on a TV campaign as well as up to £2,500/€2,500 towards ad creation from a local production agency.

’The Local Heroes’ will be selected through a combination of public vote and a local judging. Aimed at any SME (shop, restaurant, service, charity, visitor attraction etc.), it will be up to the community to vote for their favourite local business into the top 10 in their area. Applicants that fall within the top 10 in their region, will progress to the final round where winners for each of the nine regions will be selected securing the TV creative and airtime.

David Sanderson, Director of AdSmart Local and Development said, “Businesses of all shapes and sizes around the UK are making real change in the fight against climate change. We want to reward those businesses by giving them access to grow their business and spread their sustainable message. AdSmart from Sky is the perfect platform to do that, in a focused and targeted way for regional businesses, and has already helped thousands of businesses get on TV for the first time.”

Applications open from the 3^rd July and will close on the 29^th October. For full details and to find out how to apply for the ‘Sky Zero Footprint Fund: Local Heroes’, www.adsmartfromsky.co.uk/local-heroes.

Sky was the first media company globally to go carbon neutral in 2006 and since then has continued to use its platforms and content to encourage sustainable behaviours for a better planet.

To find out more about the original Sky Zero Footprint Fund, visit www.skymedia.co.uk/skyzerofootprintfund.

OceanSaver Launch Brand Building Campaign: The Ocean Will Thank You

OceanSaver® is to make its TV debut helping its mission to save Ocean life from the plastic pollution and the harmful chemicals in 28 billion single-use plastic cleaning products created every year. OceanSaver provides plastic-free, plant-based Laundry, Cleaning Sprays, and Dishwashing products that clean like the leading brands without harming Ocean life.

OceanSaver were one of 5 winners of the Sky Zero Footprint Fund, which awarded the small team £250,000 worth of TV media across Sky Media’s portfolio of TV channels. OceanSaver’s campaign idea “The Ocean Will Thank You” is a fun and radically positive way to encourage people to make an easy everyday switch to save our Ocean. The wider campaign launched on Earth Day, 22nd April 2024 across OOH, social and in store activities with the TV advert kicking in today. Aiming to inspire a reconnection with the waters that surround us introduces the nation’s new favourite crabs Bluey, Lil’ Hermit, Fiddler and Hairy Harry, along with the OceanSaver jingle, sung by the incredible Bristolian sea shanty group, The Longest Johns.

OceanSaver’s first ever TV campaign, introduces the nation to a new brand platform, “The Ocean will Thank You”, and a new set of brand mascots, the singing crabs, all created by Hearts & Minds. The film features a quartet of crabs, surprising a man named Gareth as he puts his washing on using an ocean-friendly laundry capsule. The crabs burst into a sea shanty to thank him for his efforts. The TV spot was written by Andy George and Jonathan Thake, and directed by the award-winning Jake Mavity, of Rogue Films. The ads were produced using AdGreen standards, with minimal carbon usage, all of which was triple offset.

Andy George, Founder of Hearts and Minds, says, “This category, and eco comms in general, so often deploy shock tactics or shame as a way to influence people’s purchases. Which just isn’t very effective. So, we’re very grateful to have found a partner in OceanSaver who share our belief in the power of positivity, entertainment, and a simple thank you, to get to Britain buying better for the Ocean and for the planet.”

OceanSaver’s new crab creations are set to become the meerkats of the Ocean, and the team is excited for the nation to fall in love with them. OceanSaver will also put their crab characters on all owned assets, so the more famous they are, the more recognisable the brand will be, and the greater the impact they’ll be able to make on Ocean health.

As part of the brand building from launch on Earth Day, OceanSaver will buy ad space via AdSmart from Sky and Video on Demand, targeting the top 20% of the most environmentally engaged households, using location-based targeting (obtained via DTC and Tesco sales data). The advert will reach 630,000 households every week, creating an excellent uplift in brand awareness bolstered by location targeted YouTube and Meta ads.

Adam Parker, Re-Founder and Marketing Director at OceanSaver says, “We need to save the Ocean, so the Ocean can save us. We’re crabsolutely delighted to partner with Sky and the Longest Johns to take our positive message to millions. Now anyone can switch from plastic and harmful chemicals – the Ocean will thank you. These are simple switches that can create impact for generations.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning, Sky Media, added: “OceanSaver’s advert shares a really important message – small changes make a huge difference. Something that is crucial to Sky Media’s mission in tackling the climate crisis. The Sky Zero Footprint Fund celebrates brands that make sustainable swaps easy and enticing. OceanSaver delivered exactly this in their humorous, creative campaign. We’re really excited to get this creative live and see the huge impact it is going to have on the cleaning products market.”

OceanSaver will also be looking to their community to make the most of this pivotal opportunity in the challenger brand’s journey, encouraging maximum organic sharing and viewing of the ad on YouTube by incentivising sharing, for every share, they will donate the cost of an oyster to their partners Blue Marine Foundation, creating restorative new oyster reefs in the Solent (up to a value of £5000); OceanSaver will also partner with TikTok creators to re-share and riff on the ad.

Sky Media Elevates Search Behaviour Targeting Through Captify Partnership

Last year, Sky Media launched Search Behaviour Targeting, allowing brands, for the first time, to target TV audiences based on online search behaviours. Following strong advertiser uptake, Sky Media has enhanced its partnership with Captify, the leader in real time audiences and insights fuelled by search intelligence, offering even more granular and bespoke targeting for brands.

With 1.5 billion UK searches tracked each month, the number of categories available for advertisers has more than doubled to eighteen off-the-shelf audiences, meaning greater targeting options and granularity. Alongside this, sectors such as ‘Holidays’ and ‘Home Improvement,’ have been introduced. Sky Media has also enabled bespoke audiences through a custom request process. This allows advertisers to tap into Captify’s extensive list of custom categories, including everything from ‘Pet and Animal’ Interests to ‘Real Estate’ and ‘Fantasy Sport;’ combining Captify’s custom categories to create a bespoke target audience for their campaign.

British Airways Holidays and The Ministry of Justice, in partnership with MG OMD and OmniGOV, were first to bring this new product to market as pilot partners.

Brands such as British Airways Holidays have utilised the ‘Travel’ search behaviours to expand their campaigns to reach active holiday seekers, as well as kitchen retailers who have targeted those looking to improve their homes.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) were one of the first advertisers to embrace Sky Media’s Search Behaviour Targeting to great success for their Prison Officer recruitment campaign*. AdSmart enabled the MoJ to reach households that had been searching online for ‘Jobs’ and ‘Education’ in the last month, combined with regional targeting around key prison recruitment areas. As a result, the MoJ saw a 170% uplift in prompted ad recall from those exposed to the ads versus the unexposed audience, which was a 24.3%pt uplift.

*All Sky Media targeted advertising is compliant with the GDPR regulations and audience targeting data is Sky Media owned, licensed, or processed on clients’ behalf.

Ben Stack, Ministry of Justice’s Deputy Director of Recruitment & Retention Communications, said: “Targeting our advertising in this innovative and effective way delivers better value for the taxpayer and allows our campaign investment to go further – having a real-world impact on our work to protect the public.”

The partnership will allow for targeting across both linear and on demand content across hundreds of Sky Media channels.

Rishi Chande, SVP of Global Strategy & Business Development at Captify said: “We are delighted by the growing demand from Sky Media’s clients to use Captify search data to reach desired target audiences. We are working closely with the Sky Media team to improve the targeting and attend to the demands of their different clients. This partnership means a step forward of bringing the digital world to the TV and helping clients such as the Ministry of Justice to reach TV audiences as never before.”

Dan Cohen, Director of Product & Advertising Innovation at Sky Media said: “Our effort to bring the best capabilities of digital to the brand-safe, big screen world of TV has been recognised by our clients, through their adoption of Search Behaviour Targeting. The Ministry of Justice is an excellent example of this. We listen to our client’s needs and have worked hard to improve our offering to cater to more clients and our partnership with Captify is a great example of this.”

Pawsitively Exciting Developments for Grub Club with TV and Retail Deals

The insect protein pet food brand launches its first-ever TV advert using its prize media value from the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund

Today, Sky Media announces that the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund Grand Prix winner, Grub Club, will make its TV debut using its £1 million media value prize fund.

After thorough deliberation, Grub Club, which produces insect-based dog food, was selected as the overall Sky Zero Footprint Fund winner last December. The brand was praised for its ability to shake up the pet food industry, its bold creative idea, and because it’s a simple sustainable swap that anyone can make.

This news of Grub Club’s TV launch comes shortly after the brand recently announced its retail expansion plans with the UK’s largest pet retailer, Pets at Home. This deal will see its range of treats and dental sticks stocked in 460 stores nationwide and online.

Supercharging the retail opportunity, Grub Club’s TV campaign is powered by Sky Media’s Performance Solutions and One Campaign measurement, airing across a mix of linear and VOD channels. In addition, the campaign will refine its target to pet owners, based on web search behaviour and Pet’s At Home’s postcode data to optimise the brand’s new retail deal.

The ad, used the brand’s pet mascot Stephen, to display human’s fears and anxieties about climate change from the perspective of a dog. The creative, which is available to view above, was crafted and produced in partnership with Small World Collective and Nusa Films, and follows best practice advice and recommendations from the Advertising Association’s AdGreen programme.

Alessandro Di Trapani, Co-Founder at Grub Club Pets, said: ”We’re delighted to launch our first ever TV ad with Sky Media. The Sky Zero Footprint Fund has given us an incredible opportunity to drive mass reach and build this exciting new category of pet food. We hope that it sparks more conversation about the role insects can play, not just in feeding our pets, but also in helping us fix our global food systems for future generations to come.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning, Sky Media, added: “We’re excited for Grub Club’s advert to make it’s TV debut. Grub Club is disrupting the pet food market, and we feel privileged to be part of their journey in spreading the knowledge of their products. Personally, I can’t wait to see the impact this will have on their business and the sector in general.”

Stop what you’re chewing, Milliways is making its TV debut

The plant-based, plastic-free chewing gum brand launches its first-ever TV advert using its prize media value from the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund

Sky Media has announced that the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund finalist, Milliways, has unveiled its winning advert, marking the brand’s TV debut. The campaign will run from today until the 21^st of April.

Ever wondered what it’s like to chew your dog’s favourite toy or fancied a bite of your office water cooler? These are just some of the absurd scenarios featured in Milliways new ad.

The leading plastic-free, plant-based and biodegradable chewing gum brand won £250,000 media value as a finalist in the 2023 Sky Zero Footprint Fund, which will be used to amplify their message via their new ad to millions across the UK.

The disruptor brand’s creative concept made it to the Sky Zero Footprint Fund’s final five, where Milliways unveiled its 30” TV advert to Sky Media’s panel of judges at the Fund’s Showcase event in December 2023.

Styled in the brand’s bold visual language, the creative uses confusion and intrigue to shine a light on the hidden plastic in big-brand gum. It aims to educate the 85% of people that don’t realise they’re chewing the same plastic found in plastic straws, plastic bags and plastic bottles.

The ad was shot by award-winning directors and producers, including Talya Galasko, Mercy TV and Hatch London, and follows best practice advice and recommendations from the Advertising Association’s AdGreen programme.

The TV campaign will be aired across a mix of channels and programming using Sky Media’s One Campaign Addressable and Dunhumby data to target category buyers.

Tom Raviv, Founder at Milliways, said: “Milliways’ mission is to make great tasting, plastic-free chewing gum that delivers sustainable quality without compromise for the planet. This requires enormous effort when most consumers don’t know that big brands use plastic ingredients in their chewing gum. Not to mention the artificial additives and ingredients that go into their recipes too. The sad reality is that billions of pieces of gum are chewed every year, and the vast majority of it is made with single-use plastic that isn’t recyclable and never biodegrades.

“With Sky Media’s reach and Milliways’ planet-friendly products, we’re ready to create a sustainable mass change in behaviour by informing consumers in a way that raises a smile at the same time.”

Director, Talya Galasko, said: “This is the third campaign and first TV ad I’ve shot for Milliways. It’s been so exciting developing a distinct tone and visual language with the brand, and seeing that come to life on TV screens across the country. It’s undeniably fun and eye-catching, and gets across a serious message in an approachable away.”

Here are some insights that inform Milliways’ mission and show the impact their product could have:

• The vast majority of big brand chewing gum is made from single-use plastic (up to one plastic straw per piece[1]) that never biodegrades.
• 374 billion pieces of gum are chewed every year[2], which equates to 3.8million km² (almost enough to cover the entire EU in gum)!
• Yet, 85% of people don’t realise they’re chewing the same plastic used in the production of plastic straws, plastic bags and plastic bottles[3].
• While you chew on that… let us share another (not-so-fun) fact… Chewing gum is the second most littered item on the PLANET after cigarettes[4]! 80-90% of gum isn’t disposed properly and can end up in oceans or on public surfaces[5].
• Since the brand’s launch, Milliways has saved tens of millions of pieces of plastic gum from entering the ecosystem.
• And if Milliways were to reach 30 million consumers, through their TV campaign, and could encourage each consumer to buy a single pack of Milliways gum just once, that could prevent 300 million plastic gum moments from entering our ecosystem.

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, said, “It’s really shocking that most gum is made of single-use plastic – who would want to eat that! The judges loved the Milliways entry because it’s a disruptor brand with such a simple swap for consumers to practice more sustainable behaviours – all they need to do is reach for a different brand on the retailer’s shelf. We have loved watching the brand on its Sky Zero Footprint Fund journey and are really proud of the creative that they’ve produced as a result – it’s brilliantly funny, distinctive and tells their story in a memorable way that’s sure to cut through. We can’t wait to see the impact that the TV campaign will have on the brand’s growth and on changing people’s gum purchasing habits.”

Milliways is available in over 6,500 stores across the UK including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Pret A Manger and Costa amongst others.

Sources:

• [1] https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Litterbugs.pdf
• [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10759416/#:~:text=Some%20374%20billion%20pieces%20of,an%20influence%20on%20oral%20health
• [3] https://about.iceland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Iceland-launches-plastic-free-chewing-gum-1.1.18.pdf
• [4] https://www.cwejournal.org/vol16no3/improper-disposal-of-non-biodegradable-chewing-gum-is-one-of-the-biggest-threats-to-our-ecology–a-review
• [5] https://www.dover.gov.uk/Environment/Environmental-Crime/Chewing-Gum-Waste.aspx#:~:text=Chewing%20Gum%20Facts&text=80%2D90%25%20of%20chewin

Horlicks Makes Long-Awaited TV Comeback

Iconic hot beverage brand Horlicks is returning to TV screens for the first time in 20 years via AdSmart from Sky.

The first month-long campaign will launch on the 19th of February with the commercial airing in 30-second slots. Utilising Sky Media’s addressable targeting technology, the campaign will reach specific audiences in Sky and Virgin households across the North West BARB region.

The feel-good creative, developed by Manchester-based creative agency Doodledo in close partnership with Horlicks manufacturers Aimia Foods, has been designed to challenge the perception of Horlicks as a bedtime drink, instead positioning the much-loved malted beverage as a way to make everyday a bit more ‘stress-free’, ‘calm’, ‘comfortable’ and ‘relaxing’.

The campaign message is brought to life by way of a series of light-hearted scenarios in which several individuals – who look as if they are preparing for bedtime – are being comforted by a Horlicks in everyday situations. The commercial ends with a catchy tagline, ‘Horlicks – not just a bedtime thing’.

Rebekha White, Brand Manager at Aimia Foods, commented: “Horlicks’ return to TV after two decades marks a hugely exciting development for the brand, one which we are confident will help us to meet our key objectives of increasing front-of-mind awareness and purchase consideration within our growth focus audience.”

Rebekha continued, “The message behind our memorable creative, which tackles brand perception head-on and in a humorous way, is also designed to drive frequency of purchase by demonstrating the ways Horlicks can add comfort to consumers’ everyday lives, and not just at bedtime. The initial regional-focused TV campaign will be supported by a comms plan including PR, influencer marketing and digital advertising with plans to extend the campaign nationally in Q4.”

David Sanderson, Director of AdSmart Local and Development said, “We’re thrilled to be welcoming Horlicks back to TV after a long hiatus, and we’re excited to help such an iconic, well-known brand reach new audiences with AdSmart’s targeting capabilities.

“AdSmart is the ideal platform to deliver Horlicks’ key objectives and campaign messaging, so we look forward to growing a new consumer base in the next chapter for their business.”

The Horlicks brand was acquired by Aimia Foods in April 2018. Comforting families for 150 years, it is the oldest malted drink brand (in fact it is older than the tea bag which dates from 1904), and has nourished soldiers, given sustenance to explorers and fortified athletes since 1873.

Made in Britain since 1906, Horlicks has a strong British heritage, and formed part of the forces kit bag during WW2 due to its ‘complete and well-balanced nourishment’.

With over 25 production lines across 225,000 sq ft. of product site space, Aimia Foods pack, manufacture and distribute a wide range of food and beverage products in a number of different packaging formats, with particular specialism in blending and manufacturing ambient, dry, powder-based products.

Based in Haydock, Aimia covers a multitude of markets and categories for retail, cash & carry, food service, vending as well as offering a co-manufacturing service across the business. For more information, visit www.horlicks.co.uk

Sky Media secures exclusive partnership with digital garage, Regit

• Sky Media advertisers now have access to Regit’s first-party automotive data such as make, model and fuel type as well as a whole host of after sales-related information such as service, MOT and insurance expiry dates…
• This is a world-first partnership further enhancing AdSmart’s targeting capabilities.

Sky Media, has announced a new and exclusive partnership with Regit, the UK’s leading digital garage that helps motorists buy, sell and maintain their vehicles online.
Regit holds vast amounts of data relating to its users’ vehicles, including the likes of make and model, age, fuel type and length of ownership as well as information related to after sales such as service, tax, MOT and insurance expiry.

This robust first-party data can now be matched to AdSmart’s household data allowing automotive partners to better target potential customers with everything from new and used cars to a range of aftersales essentials including finance, insurance, accessories, and anything related to car ownership.

This opens up an exciting range of targeting capabilities when also combined with Sky’s existing detailed geographic and lifestyle data. For example, a car brand looking for potential electric/hybrid or cleaner petrol/diesel customers, could specifically target drivers of non-compliant cars in London’s ULEZ zone or other Clean Air Zones across the UK.

This exclusive partnership – a first in the world of automotive, will also be used to help build the Regit brand via TV, expanding the user base and scale of their first-party data. Regit already has millions of digital garage users and the deal will fuel Sky’s own addressable data in real-time, providing advertisers with up-to-date and verified targeting data. Advertisers will also be able to match against their own customer data, by sharing data securely with Sky Media.

Karin Seymour, Director of Client and Marketing from Sky Media said: “Sky is in a truly unique position with millions of engaged customers and a direct connection into their front rooms and favourite shows. By combining Regit’s extensive data with Sky’s, advertisers will be able to better connect with more relevant and in-market audiences for improved campaign results“.

Chris Ashton Green, CEO and founder, from Regit said: “Regit exists to make things easy for the motorist and by building a technology platform that enables them to take every management action related to their car or van, we’ve been able to generate hundreds of data points on each vehicle meaning that – for the first time – automotive partners can be extremely targeted when it comes to placing TV ads through Sky Media.

“We’ve already provided Sky Media with its biggest ever data match and our own ambitious plans to scale, coupled with what we can achieve by working with Sky, means we’re collectively very excited about where this partnership will go as it reshapes the way TV advertising works in automotive.”

Sky brings TV and digital closer together with new Search Behaviour Targeting

Sky Media, has announced new Search Behaviour targeting capability for the AdSmart addressable platform. Driven by wider industry demand to bring digital and TV campaigns closer together, Search Behaviour attributes allows brands for the first time to target audiences based on specific online search behaviours including frequency and intent.

Using search data categorised by frequency and intent, which is then matched to Sky’s first party data – advertisers can engage audiences who are in market and actively searching for products and services. Leveraged through market leading AdSmart, targeted ads are delivered into relevant households in both live and on demand content across millions of Sky, Virgin and Now homes.

Seven search behaviour categories are available at launch: Home & Garden, Travel, News, Job & Education, Arts and Entertainment, Games, Pets and Animals. Search Behaviour Targeting identifies people at every stage of their purchase journey, from initial research, through to adding items to their online basket. Search behaviour habits can be combined with any of the other existing 1000+ AdSmart attributes to refine campaigns. This could include postcodes, lifestage, mosaic groups or an advertiser’s own first party data. As an example, a custom campaign could see a holiday or insurance company target those who are actively searching for holidays or flights. This could be further refined or creative adapted to those looking at beach, sightseeing or ski holidays in a specific area of the country. The Search Behaviour targeting capability has been developed in conjunction with Captify, who are the largest independent holder of search data.

Ruth Cartwright, Investment Director at Sky Media – “TV remains the most effective and engaging platform for brands. Being able to embrace the best capabilities of digital but in the brand safe, big screen, world of TV, makes campaigns more relevant and impactful. That’s what we’re hearing from brands and agencies, so that’s where we’re focusing our innovations.”

Helping advertisers connect with audiences wherever they watch is part of an ongoing roadmap of innovation from Sky Media, bringing TV and digital closer together. AdSmart launched nearly ten years ago and was the world’s first TV addressable advertising platform. Launched a few years later Sky AdVance opened-up digital targeting based on TV viewing and upcoming Creative Optimisation will help performance brands programmatically adapt their TV creatives to optimise response.

Sky Media invites innovative AdTech firms to pitch for place in first ‘Innovation Sprint’

• New two-day ‘Innovation Sprint’ for the media industry in 2023
• Collaboration to identify exciting opportunities harnessing Sky tech and data
• Invitation for AdTech firms and start-ups to join the ‘Innovation Sprint’ and incorporate their technology with Sky’s, across TV and digital platforms

Today, Sky Media, the advertising arm of Sky has announced an inaugural ‘Innovation Sprint’ that will take place at its Osterley HQ on 26th and 27th January 2023.

Sky, a business built on innovation has a track record of both market-changing consumer products (Sky+, HD, Sky Glass) and AdTech capabilities (AdSmart, Sky AdVance, Web Attribution and upcoming Smart Sponsorships). In 2023, Sky Media’s ‘Innovation Sprint’ aims to work with the industry to build the next generation of advertising innovations.

The two-day ‘Sprint’ will be attended by the hottest industry talent who will be nominated by media agency leadership teams. The event will be a combination of keynotes sharing inspiring thought leadership on innovation, an inside look into Sky’s processes and product roadmap for consumers and advertisers; and a competitive brief for delegates to collaborate and build ideas for future advertising solutions.

The winning teams will take part in the follow-up process as the ideas are scoped and built out, as well as winning individual Sky VIP experiences.

As a key component of the new initiative, Sky is inviting innovative AdTech companies and start-ups to pitch their ad technology to be part of the ‘Sprint’ itself. Up to five shortlisted companies will then present to the delegates at the event with the potential for the products/capabilities to be featured in the ideas that are generated.

Sky Media is committing to turning the best ideas – generated during the ‘Sprint’ – into proof of concepts with the potential to incorporate the technology in future product launches.

Submissions are open from today until 24th November 2022 via https://www.skymedia.co.uk/innovation-sprint-form/. The invite is open to all ad innovative tech companies, from content creation and production to data analysis and AI – and everything in between.

Dev Sangani, Advertising Capability and Strategy Director – Sky Media UK & Europe said, “Innovation is part of our DNA at Sky, and Sky Media are always working on new products and capabilities to improve our customers’ advertising. With the Innovation Sprint, we want to collaborate with the media and ad tech worlds to address current challenges and find innovative new solutions that only Sky can deliver. We believe in better, and we believe we’re better together, which is why we want to “Sprint” with the media industry’s star performers.”