What the First UK TV Ad Teaches Net-Zero Startups

Britain’s first TV advert aired in 1955, and it was… a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste trapped in a block of ice.

That detail matters more than it sounds. The copywriter behind it, Brian Palmer—who has just died aged 96—didn’t win because he had better targeting, better attribution, or better tech. He won because he made a product feel like something: “as fresh as ice.” A simple, visual promise people could repeat.

For UK startups working on climate change and the net zero transition, that’s a timely reminder. Your technology might be genuinely new, but the marketing challenge isn’t: get people to care, understand, and trust you fast enough that adoption actually happens. If you’re selling a heat pump, a battery platform, low-carbon materials, or carbon accounting software, brand building isn’t “nice to have”. It’s how you cross the chasm from early adopters to the mainstream.

This post uses Palmer’s legacy as a springboard to talk about what still works—especially for climate tech and sustainability startups trying to build brand awareness, earn trust, and generate leads in the UK.

Brian Palmer’s real contribution: making a new medium work

Palmer’s famous moment is writing the first commercial broadcast on ITV in 1955 for Gibbs SR toothpaste. But the useful lesson isn’t nostalgia; it’s strategy.

Television was a brand-new marketing channel. It mixed sound, motion, and storytelling inside people’s homes. Palmer saw the opportunity early, even when senior people around him assumed TV advertising wouldn’t matter. He leaned into the combination of words + image + feeling, and it put him on a fast track.

New channels reward the people who learn the creative rules early—not the people who wait for “best practice.”

That pattern repeats. Today’s “new mediums” for startup marketing might be:

• creator-led B2B (LinkedIn personalities, technical founders with followings)
• short-form video used for trust-building, not gimmicks
• community-first growth (Slack, WhatsApp, Discord)
• AI search discovery (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity)
• TV again—through connected TV (CTV) where buys are more accessible than old broadcast

For net-zero startups, channel novelty isn’t the advantage by itself. The advantage is being early and being clear.

Lesson 1: One vivid promise beats ten clever claims

Palmer’s “fresh as ice” is worth studying because it’s not a feature list. It’s a single, visual promise.

Climate and sustainability marketing often fails because it stacks up:

• technical specs
• acronyms
• compliance language
• an ESG paragraph that reads like a policy document

The customer, meanwhile, wants a clean mental shortcut. In the net zero transition, buyers are overloaded: new regulations, budget pressure, reputational risk, energy volatility, and competing vendors.

How to translate your climate product into a “fresh as ice” promise

Start with this structure:

1. Outcome (what changes for the customer)
2. Proof mechanism (why your product can credibly deliver it)
3. Image (a concrete metaphor people can picture)

Examples (illustrative, not prescriptive):

• Heat pump installer: “Comfort like a well-insulated new-build—without rebuilding your house.”
• Fleet electrification software: “Know tomorrow’s charging plan today.”
• Carbon accounting tool: “From messy invoices to audit-ready emissions in days.”
• Sustainable packaging: “The unboxing people love, minus the landfill guilt.”

Notice what’s missing: grand statements about “saving the planet.” Most customers don’t buy that. They buy cost, risk reduction, reliability, and pride—and they want to feel confident they won’t regret the decision.

Lesson 2: Brand awareness isn’t fluff—it’s a risk-reduction tool

In the article, Palmer later co-founded Kingsley, Manton and Palmer (KMP), a creative shop known in the 1960s for pushing different commercial models (including fee-based remuneration) and building an independent media function.

The startup parallel is obvious: when you’re early, you can’t rely on the market structure to carry you. You have to build your own.

For climate tech, brand awareness is directly linked to perceived risk:

• If you’re unknown, procurement assumes implementation risk.
• If you’re unknown, legal assumes compliance risk.
• If you’re unknown, finance assumes “this won’t last 24 months.”

A strong brand doesn’t just help you win attention. It helps you win internal battles inside the buyer’s organisation.

What to measure (and what not to obsess over)

If your only KPI is “leads this week,” you’ll end up doing short-term tactics that quietly damage long-term growth.

A better scorecard for net-zero startup marketing:

• Share of search: are more people searching your brand name month over month?
• Direct traffic trend: are people typing your URL or using bookmarks?
• Sales cycle compression: does brand familiarity shorten time-to-contract?
• Win rate vs. incumbents: are you converting competitive deals more often?
• Stakeholder penetration: are you known by procurement and sustainability and ops?

These are lead indicators of future pipeline quality.

Lesson 3: Creativity is a serious growth tactic—especially in net zero

The net zero transition is full of “hard sells”: behaviour change, capex decisions, and operational disruption. That’s why creativity matters.

Palmer enjoyed advertising because it combined words, sound, and vision and could “talk to people in their own homes.” That’s the point: creativity reduces friction. It makes the unfamiliar feel safe.

Three creative angles that work for sustainability and climate products

1. Make the invisible visible

   • Emissions, energy loss, and supply-chain impacts are abstract.
   • Use visuals and simple comparisons: “This site’s standby load costs £X/month.”

2. Turn compliance into competence

   • Many buyers are driven by UK reporting demands and customer pressure.
   • Position your product as the “calm system” that makes audits boring.

3. Show the moment of relief

   • Great ads often sell the feeling after the problem is solved.
   • For net zero: fewer manual spreadsheets, fewer surprise bills, fewer uncomfortable board questions.

A stance I’ll defend: if your climate startup can’t explain its value without charts, your marketing has a clarity problem, not a budget problem.

Lesson 4: Build trust like a utility, not hype like a consumer app

Palmer was known for a pastoral leadership style and didn’t love the corporate side of the ad world. That detail is relevant: trust is built by consistency and care, not by noise.

Climate and sustainability buyers are increasingly sceptical because greenwashing has been so widespread. Trust needs to be designed into your marketing.

A practical trust checklist for climate tech lead generation

Use this before you scale spend:

• Specific claims: replace “up to 30%” with typical ranges and conditions.
• Proof on the page: case studies with baselines, timeframes, and methods.
• Risk answers: implementation timeline, data security, measurement methodology.
• Clear boundaries: what your solution does not do (buyers respect this).
• A credible spokesperson: founder, engineer, or customer—someone technical enough to satisfy scrutiny.

If you’re in carbon accounting or reporting, add a plain-English explanation of:

• organisational boundaries
• emissions factor sources
• how you handle missing data

People don’t need a thesis. They need confidence you’ve thought it through.

Lesson 5: “Independent media” thinking is now a startup advantage

KMP introduced an independent media department to manage planning and buying. In the 1960s, that was unusual. In 2026, it’s a blueprint.

Here’s the modern version: separate channel incentives from strategy. Don’t let whatever platform is trending dictate your message.

A simple channel plan for UK net-zero startups (90 days)

This is a pragmatic way to balance brand awareness and lead generation:

1. One flagship narrative (week 1–2)

   • A single page that explains: problem → promise → proof → next step.

2. Two proof assets (week 2–6)

   • One quantified case study.
   • One “how it works” explainer written for non-experts.

3. One repeatable distribution loop (week 3–12)

   • Founder posts (2×/week) + customer quote snippets.
   • A monthly webinar with a partner (installer, consultancy, trade body, or supplier).
   • Retargeting ads that point to proof, not hype.

4. Lead capture that respects the buyer

   • Offer a benchmark, calculator, or assessment.
   • Keep the form short. Make the value immediate.

The goal is simple: when someone hears your name, they should quickly find a coherent story and credible evidence.

Common questions founders ask (and straight answers)

Should a climate startup invest in TV or CTV?

If your product has broad appeal (home energy, EV charging, consumer-facing sustainability), CTV can be efficient earlier than people assume. If you’re enterprise-only, prioritise proof-led content and targeted distribution first.

How do we avoid sounding like every other sustainability brand?

Stop leading with values language and start leading with operational outcomes. Values can support the story, but they can’t be the story.

What’s the biggest marketing mistake in the net zero transition?

Treating adoption like an information problem. It’s usually a trust + risk + change-management problem.

Where this leaves us

Brian Palmer’s first TV ad wasn’t famous because it was complicated. It became a marker in advertising history because it captured a benefit in a way people could instantly understand.

For startups driving the climate change and net zero transition, the same rule applies: clarity is your growth engine. Creativity isn’t decoration; it’s how you make new technology feel obvious, safe, and worth switching for.

If you’re building in climate tech, clean energy, sustainable transport, or carbon management, here’s the forward-looking challenge: as regulation tightens and scrutiny grows in 2026, will your marketing make buyers feel more certain—or more suspicious? The companies that win won’t be the loudest. They’ll be the clearest.