Adland still has a long way to go before it properly addresses the opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint when it comes to ad production. Speaking to Creative Salon, MSQ’s Head of Global Studios, Morgan Cox, weighs in on what we should be doing to change that.

AdGreen released its first Annual Review this week and called for advertisers, agencies, and production companies to increase their data analysis, to collaborate more closely and adopt more sustainable approaches.

While the review’s findings suggest a number of ways that ad production can make these carbon cuts, we spoke to a number of industry insiders to understand what changes they’ve already introduced in-house and what practices they plan to continue cultivating to commit to acting as sustainably as possible.

Morgan Cox, Head of Dynamic Content & Global Studios, MSQ

The most important lesson for the industry has been that, when it comes to sustainable production, it’s a bit like medicine – prevention is better than cure. You need all stakeholders – from creative to production – pausing at the beginning of the process to consider the best and most sustainable approach to the client’s brief.

If you bake in sustainability and proof by data at the beginning, you will remove any subjective views and in turn focus the entire team on the best creative solution that also delivers the best results for the client and the planet.

You can’t fix sustainability in post. Bring the entire team and the client on the sustainability journey and benefit from the start.

This article first appeared on Creative Salon here.