egtabite 422: RMB’s Blue Screen initiative for eco-responsible advertising

This week’s egtabite explores Blue Screen, a new advertising format by RMB in Belgium, the RTBF’s sales house. Launched in March, the Blue Screen initiative aims at giving greater visibility to eco-responsible companies, products and services by offering a privileged ad space (strong audiences and an innovative design) to those advertisers who fit the strict criteria laid out in RMB’s eligibility charter.

Blue Screen kicked off with two advertisers, Microlino and Eneco. The former company is a specialised electric vehicle manufacturer and the latter an energy provider that devotes 100% of its investment to solar and wind energy production.

Blue Screen aims to promote responsible and eco-friendly advertising and provide viewers with information about the more sustainable nature of the companies and products promoted. The goal is to enable viewers to make more informed consumer choices in the long term. RMB’s eligibility charter for advertisers is based on the most reliable current criteria for measuring environmental impact, and is expected to evolve depending on the availability of objective data to assess the sustainability of both companies and products.

The selection of eligible advertisers is based on a positioning grid that informs advertisers about the products that could benefit from Blue Screen. The grid is based on several criteria, including:

• B Corp certification for organizations
• Environmental labels for products
• Eco-Score for food
• Energy labels for electrical equipment
• CO2 emissions and vehicle weight for the transport sector
• 100% renewable energy providers.
• The promotion of reuse, recycling and reduction of waste is also a selection criterion.

Blue Screen is aired in prime time on TV channel La Une, before the news at 1:00 PM and 7:30 PM. But the restrictive nature of the eligibility charter does not allow for the continuous and systematic highlighting of sustainable products, as these products are currently too few on the Belgian market. Therefore, the Blue Screen display will be implemented episodically for a period of one week.

The week of 13-19 March 2023 marked the launch of Blue Screen on air, and it remains to be seen what the results of the initiative will be. However, it is a positive step towards promoting eco-responsible advertising and raising awareness about sustainability issues among viewers. By promoting sustainable products and services, RMB is demonstrating its commitment to becoming a driver of change towards a more responsible advertising ecosystem by setting a high standard for eco-responsible advertising.

More information about Blue Screen can be found here.