Wavemaker

Background

Wavemaker is a WPP media agency that has worked with Chevron for over two decades.¹ In 2017, WPP media agencies MEC and Maxus merged to form Wavemaker.² Along with EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, and MSix&Partners, Wavemaker is part of WPP’s GroupM media network.³

Stance on Climate Change

Wavemaker does not publish a climate change stance separate from its parent company, WPP. In 2021, WPP pledged to reach net zero emissions across its operations by 2025 and its supply chain by 2030.⁴ WPP has said it supports “urgent action” to address climate change.

During a February 2022 call with analysts about WPP’s 2021 revenue, CEO Mark Read defended its contracts with fossil fuel clients.⁵ At the time of the call, WPP worked with Shell, BP, and Chevron, and Read said, “we want to work with companies that share our values and share our outlook for the future, and energy companies are in the process of doing that…We are there to support them on that transition.”

In February 2021, Clean Creatives released a fact sheet detailing Wavemaker’s relationship with Chevron to pressure the media company to drop Chevron as a client.⁶ As of February 2024, Wavemaker has a team dedicated to the Chevron account.⁷

Funding

Wavemaker generates revenue through contracts with clients. Wavemaker’s parent organization, WPP, does not disclose revenue for individual subsidiaries. In 2022, WPP made £11.79 billion with pass-through costs removed.⁸

Key People

Fossil Fuel Clients

Year	Region	Client	Agency	Citation
2024	North America	Chevron	Wavemaker	⁹
2023	North America	Chevron	Wavemaker	¹⁰
2023	Egypt	TotalEnergies	Wavemaker	¹¹
2022		Chevron	Wavemaker	¹²
2022	Asia	CLP Power	Wavemaker	¹³
2022	Asia	TotalEnergies	Wavemaker	¹⁴
2021		Chevron	Wavemaker	¹⁵
2020	North America and Pacific	Chevron	Wavemaker	¹⁶
2020	South Africa	TotalEnergies	Wavemaker	¹⁷
2019		Chevron	Wavemaker	¹⁸

Board of Directors¹⁹ ²⁰ ²¹ ²² ²³

Actions

December 2023

Source: TotalEnergies Spain YouTube Account

Wavemaker launched “Un Coche Para Alba” (A Car for Alba) with Nurun, an advertising agency owned by Publicis Groupe, for TotalEnergies Spain.²⁴ This commercial showed a Red Cross volunteer traveling across rural Spain to help older people in an electric vehicle charged through TotalEnergies’ charging network. This commercial followed other 2023 ads created by Wavemaker and Nurun for TotalEnergies, which advertised the fossil fuel company’s renewable electricity projects.²⁵

2023

Source: Chevron YouTube Account, 2023²⁶

Wavemaker launched Chevron’s 2023 “Energy in Progress” campaign, which focused on Chevron’s carbon capture and storage and anaerobic digester investments.²⁷

Other ads²⁸ claimed that Chevron was lowering its carbon intensity through the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) while also helping other industries lower carbon emissions through CCS.²⁹

Chevron Energy in Progress advertisement created by Wavemaker 2024 — Energy in Progress ad, Washington D.C. Union Station, February 2024. Credit: Cartie Werthman

2022

Wavemaker began including the expected carbon emissions of media buys when presenting options to clients.³⁰ Carbon emissions for media plans can vary based on which platform the advertisements run on and the amount of ads.

2021

Wavemaker Singapore was shortlisted for Best Mobile Growth Strategy for its work on Chevron’s CaltexGO, a mobile payments app for its gas stations.³² In June 2021, Wavemaker Singapore launched a social media ad campaign to increase awareness of the app and increase Chevron’s fuel sales. The number of fuel purchases on the CaltexGo app increased 14.6 percent from June to July 2021.

February 2021

Clean Creatives and climate advocates released a fact sheet detailing Wavemaker’s relationship with Chevron to pressure the media company to drop Chevron as a client.³³

2020

Source: Chevron YouTube Account

Wavemaker won a Corporate Reputation Effie award for its “Doers” campaign for Chevron, which it ran with ad agency McGarryBowen (now Dentsumb).³⁴ McGarryBowen and Wavemaker targeted the campaign towards “those who impact energy policy.” McGarryBowen and Wavemaker wrote in the awards submission that Chevron wanted to combat the erosion of trust between the oil and gas industry and “energy influencers.” “But industry detractors pushed a narrative that traditional energy sources have no place in progress,” McGarryBowen and Wavemaker wrote. The ads, which ran on social media, TV, and in POLITICO and other outlets targeted toward Washington, D.C., focused on American “doers” who need fossil fuel energy to keep improving the country.

more affordable more reliable and ever cleaner Chevron ad

Chevron is investing in a company that captures CO2, created by Wavemaker — Chevron played video ads discussing its investments in Carbon Capture & Storage at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport as part of its “Doers” campaign. Source: Effie

August 2019³⁵

Wavemaker retained the Chevron account in North America and the Pacific markets.³⁶

June 26, 2019

Source: Chevron³⁷

Wavemaker and McGarryBowen won an Employee Engagement award at the 2019 Excellence in Marketing and Communications Awards for their “Thank a Role Model” campaign for Chevron.³⁸ The campaign targeted Chevron employees worldwide and the U.S. public with the message that Chevron was trying to recruit more women and girls into STEM careers.

April 2019

Wavemaker won a Gold Internationalist Award for its “We Live Here, Too” campaign for Chevron.³⁹ Wavemaker wrote in the awards submission that the campaign intended to improve Chevron’s environmental image with the community surrounding its El Segundo refinery in the Los Angeles area. In 2018, a national settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency over Clean Air Act violations forced Chevron to pay $150 million to replace pipes that were at risk of rupturing and improve safety procedures and trainings.⁴⁰ Some of these violations took place at the El Segundo refinery. The campaign advertised Chevron’s contributions to the El Segundo community.

December 2018

The best engineers should work on the most complex projects Chevron ad — Source: On Campus Advertising

On Campus Advertising published a case study on its website describing its nine years of work for Chevron, which it did in partnership with MEC Global/Wavemaker.⁴¹ On Campus Advertising worked with MEC Global (and later Wavemaker) to recruit students to work at Chevron by advertising on billboards in universities’ engineering buildings, in student newspapers, and on university websites.

2007

Mediaedge: CIA (MEC) won a Silver Corporate Reputation Effie Award with fellow WPP companies Young & Rubicam and Wunderman for its work for Chevron.⁴² In the awards submission, MEC, Young & Rubicam, and Wunderman wrote that the campaign targeted “those who determine the exploration, extraction, and delivery of energy around the world” and successfully improved Chevron’s corporate reputation by “facing up to the real energy issues that concerned the audience – issues that were being ducked by the competition.”

The campaign launched in 2006 and ran print ads in the New Yorker magazine, which read, “The average American uses 25 barrels of oil each year. So how about cutting back on that habit?”

Another campaign initiative was an online game created in partnership with The Economist.⁴³ In Energyville, players could choose different sources of energy to power a future city in 2030. The game was hosted on the campaign’s website, willyoujoinus.com.