The face of incentives has changed. Far-flung exotic destinations are being swapped for locations closer to home, and luxury experiences changed for activities that give back to the environment or local community. The three P’s (people, planet, profit) are now front and centre for organisations, and this increased focus on sustainability company-wide is expected to filter through to the events strategy. But whilst event planners strive to create more sustainable incentives, so often, the story around their more environmental decisions is being left unmentioned. Throughout the lifecycle of an incentive, there are so many opportunities to involve attendees with your eco-friendly choices. By creating a supporting sustainability communication strategy, you can far better showcase the purpose of the event whilst also getting attendees on board with your green agenda.
When launching your communications campaign, it’s important to showcase your sustainable decisions from the offset. By taking your attendees on the journey with you right from the beginning, you can far better highlight your brand mission while also helping them adopt more sustainable behaviours. Start by telling the story of why you’re making a shift in the format of the incentive, then showcase the areas where more eco-friendly choices have been made. There might be areas that you were unable to make more sustainable. Don’t be afraid to highlight these, too, so your attendees are fully informed on every decision.
This will also involve benchmarking your incentive emissions from the start, to help you assign targets for carbon reduction in following years. Without this data, it’s impossible to measure where improvements need to be made.
If you’ve chosen Amsterdam as your incentive destination due to its green transport credentials or Helsinki because of its environmentally friendly certified hotel rooms, then make sure to highlight these reasons in your communications. Don’t expect your guests to know the ‘why’ around your destination choice, so bring this to life early on in your incentive teaser campaign. Don’t just restrict this to a single call out in an email too, highlight the destination's sustainability credentials in video content, graphics and on your event website.
Did you know that business class emits three times more carbon than economy due to the room the seats take up in the plane (Reuters)? Therefore, moving forward we’re bound to see a rise in incentive destinations accessible by rail. A change from a more exotic destination to one deemed less luxurious might ruffle some feathers, so it’s important to explain the rationale behind the change. Whilst you can still reach some amazing destinations by rail, for some, Paris might not have quite the same ring as Hawaii. Calculate the total CO2 emissions saved through the decision to go by rail and call out this stat continually in your communications.
One area of incentives that has seen a significant shift is the role of gifting. Whereas before, high-ticket items such as branded sunglasses or handbags might have been the norm, planners are now sourcing ethical items to gift. If you’re going to an effort to source eco-friendly luxury gifts, make sure to communicate to attendees why it’s ethical, such as an accompanying gift card detailing the story behind the product, where it’s made, who made it and the ingredients.
With menu choices one of the key ways you can create a greener event, this is an important area to highlight in your sustainability comms. Has the menu been sourced within 20 miles? Is there a focus on vegetarian alternatives? Is there a zero-waste policy from the caterer? These are all excellent points to communicate to attendees. Use recyclable menu cards by the dishes, highlight on the event app or website, and even consider a video going behind the scenes of the chef, local farm or caterer.
When designing an incentive, it doesn’t just end at the point attendees travel home, there’s so much opportunity to extend the event. And a sustainable story can be woven into this legacy. Have attendees taken part in a CSR activity that supports the community over a prolonged period? Create email comms that showcase to attendees the positive success stories of their CSR activity.
When communicating your eco-friendly changes, aim to create a story throughout your event. You want to feel that if an attendee joined at any point in the incentive, they would still understand your mission in this area. Therefore, that’s not the odd line in an email that can be easily missed, it’s communicating it at every touchpoint throughout your incentive.
Consider including sustainability comms in the below areas
- Event website
- Email marketing
- Video campaigns
- Teaser campaigns
- Post-event comms
- F&B Menus
- Event app
- Room gifts supporting communications
If you’d like support with crafting your event’s story, we have a talented team of strategists, communication experts and creatives who can support. Contact patrick.ockendon@bcdme.com