Tony’s Chocolonely has been announced as the winner of Immediate’s inaugural sustainable advertising competition.

Launched to mark World Environment Day, the competition was open to any advertiser making tangible progress on environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals to make a real difference, to win a digital advertising campaign worth £200,000, running across Immediate’s marketing-leading brands, including Radio Times, Good Food and BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine.

Tony’s Chocolonely was crowned winner with the judging panel praising its clear, credible, and impactful ESG work. Chocolate manufacturer Tony’s Chocolonely’s mission is to end exploitation in the cocoa industry, fighting against forced labour, child labour, and deforestation.

The brand’s entry highlighted the “bitter truth” of the cocoa industry’s use of child labour and contribution to deforestation. It presented its “sweet solution” through five Sourcing Principles, which include paying higher prices, ensuring 100% traceability, and improving cocoa quality and yields.

The advertising campaign will be created by Imagine, Immediate’s award-winning content studio, running across Immediate’s premium digital platforms. Its performance will be tracked using IMClear, Immediate’s proprietary tool for measuring advertising effectiveness against ESG metrics.

The expert judges included Immediate’s Sustainability lead Michelle Whitehead, Good Food’s Managing Editor Lulu Grimes, BBC Gardeners’ World Content Director, Kevin Smith and Matt Bourn, Director of Communications at the Advertising Association (AA).

Michelle Whitehead, Immediate’s Sustainability Lead, said: “We were so delighted by the response to this competition with so many brands striving to make a tangible difference. Tony’s Chocolonely’s open-source approach facilitates brands like Waitrose, Aldi, and Ben & Jerry’s to source using its tried-and-tested methods proves that real change is about lifting everyone, not just leading alone. Immediate wants to help that message travel further.”

Kevin Smith, Content Director, BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, added: “Tony’s Chocolonely impressed me hugely as the brand is built on foundations designed to bring about positive change, re-shaping a huge industry. It hasn’t adapted to be better; it exists to make a difference.  Tony’s practices making a meaningful difference on multiple fronts, from working conditions at source to reducing deforestation.”

According to Nicola Matthews, Tony’s Chocolonely UKI Head of Marketing: “As a challenger brand our paid media budgets are tiny compared to our competitors so we’re so grateful to Immediate for giving us this opportunity, especially with Less Healthy Food (LHF) regulations round the corner. It will help us reach even more people with our tasty chocolate and vision to end exploitation in cocoa.”

IMClear is Immediate’s pioneering proprietary tool for measuring advertising effectiveness against ESG metrics and supporting more sustainable media investment.

Immediate as a company has committed to net zero by 2045, with a target of reducing emissions by 30% by 2030.

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