Help! I need some sustainability!

Whether you’re in a small independent company or a large corporation, you will need a policy relating to sustainability. The key question is why?

Unless you’re completely cut off from any sort of media, you will be aware of the need for companies and organisations to adopt sustainable practices to help meet their legal, social and environmental obligations.

Making a difference or ticking a box?

Depending on your outlook, it’s easy to see sustainability policies as box ticking exercises that requires a statement about vaguely pledging to do something in the future, appeasing both internal stakeholders and external audiences. But is this good enough? The answer should be a resounding ‘no’.

While paying for an accreditation or certificate from a sustainability company or consultant provides some verification of your sustainability efforts, does it make a difference to you, your organisation or the world around you? It may provide a framework which guides your activities but doesn’t actually do anything nor satisfy everyone’s standards.

Okay Brief2Build, what do you do for sustainability?

Well, we’re a design and build company, which means we ‘do’ things on a daily basis that move projects forwards. As part of our ‘doing’, sustainable practices are embedded in all that we do, from supply chain management, using/not using certain materials to smart logistics planning and encouraging clients to re-use stands.

These individual actions may seem insignificant but when they’re added together as part of our operational procedures and repeated day in, day out, they create an impact. This impact benefits us as a company (both commercially and environmentally), our clients who have partner that supports their ESG commitments and most importantly, the world around us.

In addition to our operational sustainability practices, we have gone further by creating Nature’s Hope, which offers companies with their own carbon reduction commitments the opportunity to be involved with our ‘planting the future’ programme in the UK.

If you would like Brief2Build on your supply chain supporting you and your ESG, get in touch with us for a friendly, professional chat about what you’re looking to achieve: [email protected]

Exhibition Stands / Booths: Cost or Investment?

To exhibit or not to exhibit?

There’s been plenty written on the reasons for exhibiting, including meeting customers, brand awareness, launching a new product/service, generating leads etc, and all of them are valid.
One of the most important reasons for exhibiting at a live event is companies and brands can connect with their audience in a way that all other marketing activities cannot. What used to be considered the only live place to interact has now been categorised as In Real Life (IRL) experiences since the creation of online worlds.

Event planners assemble!

Once the decision has been made to exhibit, where do you start? This depends on who approved this decision and the reasons put forward.

Generally things go like this:

Approval given to book the space at a show
Space is booked at cost of X paid to the organiser
Stand/booth design brief written with budget (included/excluded)
Stand/booth design & build supplier searched for/engaged with/appointed
Exhibiting team confirmed, hotels and travel booked
Content and/or products for display at the show scheduled
Pre-show marketing activity and advanced meeting bookings started

What will the ‘bean counters’ say?

Depending on the organisation, the person charged with managing the event will have multiple stakeholders to accommodate. These people will all have their own opinions and objectives but are usually too busy to engage at the start of the project where input is most valuable (and manageable).

When you start pulling things together and you report the budget has been met or exceeded, do your finance team see the project as a cost or an investment? The answer to this can be critical to the success of the show for the company or brand.

If it’s viewed as a cost, then every aspect of the project will be seen as a potential to cut back on the budget which in turn can reduce the quality of visitor experience. In extreme cases, this can result in something like Willy’s Chocolate Experience.

If viewed as an investment, it’s more likely to be a success based on the outcomes identified and agreed at the decision-to-exhibit stage. This doesn’t mean exceeding the budget, instead it provides a positive focus on how to achieve success for the company or brand.

Showtime!

You will have your own reasons to exhibit but remember this a live performance and when the curtain goes up (show opens), visitors are expecting to be wowed, intrigued, engaged and experience the best.

With high expectations and fierce competition, you should be partnering with a design & build company that supports you from the very beginning of the project through to the final act of dismantle.

Brief2Build is run by a highly experienced team of industry professionals with decades of experience making things happen for clients around the world.

If you’re planning your next exhibition, get in touch with us for a friendly, professional chat about what you’re looking to achieve: [email protected]