Dark Mode Ads: Plenitude’s vision for the future of urban communication

“Dark Mode Ads” is Plenitude’s new communication project designed to reduce the energy consumption of digital advertising across its Italian stores and in its advertising campaigns in Italy, Spain and France. Starting today, Plenitude will switch all LED screen creativities to dark mode, achieving energy savings of up to 74% compared to the traditional display of the same images¹.

LED screens in shop windows and digital out-of-home advertising light up cities day and night to capture the attention of passers-by. A powerful visual impact that, however, requires energy. Plenitude has chosen to challenge this paradigm, demonstrating that dark mode makes it possible to maintain strong screen visibility while at the same time reducing energy consumption.

The change starts with colors themselves. Darker tones consume less energy, as each pixel requires less power to reproduce them. This is also confirmed by a study conducted by Certimac², an independent research institute commissioned by Plenitude: color tones have a direct impact on the amount of energy required by LED screens.

As part of this initiative, developed in collaboration with the creative agency LePub, Plenitude will switch to dark mode the LED screens in its store windows as well as its Digital Out of Home (DOOH)³ advertising spaces, encouraging other brands, advertisers and players across the advertising industry to join the project. To support this, a technology platform developed by LePub is available to everyone, automatically converting creatives into dark mode while preserving their visual effectiveness.

The first public demonstration took place in the brightly lit Plaza Callao in Madrid, one of the most iconic locations for digital communication in Europe, and simultaneously in Rome, in the Castel Sant’Angelo - Lungotevere Prati area, and in Paris, in the pedestrian zone of La Défense - iconic cities in countries where Plenitude is also present with its retail operations.

With this initiative, Plenitude reaffirms its commitment to raising awareness about energy consumption, offering a tangible example to the industry and helping to encourage broader reflection on the importance of reducing consumption also within the advertising sector.

Plenitude operates in more than 15 countries worldwide with a business model that integrates electricity generation from 5.8 GW of renewable sources, the sale of energy and energy solutions across Europe to over 11 million customers, and a network of 23,000 public electric vehicle charging points. By 2030, the company aims to reach 15 GW of renewable capacity globally, along with 15 million customers.

[1] The energy savings associated with the use of Dark Mode were calculated on the basis of tests carried out by Certimac in March 2026, in accordance with the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol. The tests involved 15 images, featuring different color schemes and taken from Plenitude’s advertising campaigns. Energy savings were measured by comparing the energy consumption required to display the same set of images on LED screens (SMD technology) before and after the adoption of Dark Mode Ads.

[2] https://corporate.eniplenitude.com/content/dam/plenitude-corporate/documents/eng/chi-siamo/partnership-ed-eventi/dark-mode-ads/Dark_Mode_Ads_Reporting_Measurement_Campaign_Energy_Savings_Verification_ENG.pdf

[3] Digital Out of Home (DOOH) advertising that uses LED screens, totems and large-format displays in high-traffic public spaces—such as streets, stations and shopping centres—to deliver dynamic, video and interactive content that can be updated in real time.