Party On! – How to make your event merchandise environmentally friendly

Wherever people come out to celebrate there will be others trying to cash in. Festivals and parades are flooded with advertising attempting to reach every person there. They’re great for promotional products because the attending demographic is narrow. The chance of you reaching your target market is high. After a festival or social event, your branded merchandise shouldn’t be included in the clean-up. Environmentally friendly promotional products are a matter of purpose and consideration. Read on to see how you can keep the earth in mind when you next purchase merchandise.

You may believe that it’s up to those to whom you’re giving a product to only take it if they want it. But it’s also your responsibility to supply something that goes beyond the ‘want’ factor. It’s better for you and better for the environment. For a product to be worth it’s manufacture, it should be useful or informative – something that serves a purpose. It’s even better if that purpose is more than your advertising message. Then the product will be useful for both you and your client or customer, making it last longer and more worth the energy and materials spent to create it.

Manufacturers globally are creating merchandise that is environmentally conscious all the way from design to dispatch. Ask us how to access these products for your brand.

There’s a wad of garbage three times the size of France floating between Hawaii and the rest of the USA. It is primarily made up of plastic. 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic – and that’s only 34% of the total amount of plastic in the ocean. The Ocean Clean Up has some interesting but scary figures about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Take a look for yourself (The Ocean Clean Up – Great Pacific Garbage Patch).

Plastic alternatives are freely available, as we’ve mentioned in a few previous blogs. Products made from biodegradable materials will have a significantly reduced impact on the environment should they end up discarded. Natural materials like cotton and jute, recycled paper and cardboard, bamboo and cork are fantastic substitutes to plastic. They are commonly used in promotional bags, notebooks, pens and home wares. These environmentally compatible products reduce your company’s footprint and help you stand apart.

Sometimes environmentally friendly promotional products have a larger price tag. They also have greater worth outside of the numbers. As expressed in an article by the American Marketing Association,

‘Is it worth spending extra on better-made products when people seem willing to snag whatever you lay out? Yes: Because consumers don’t make emotional connections with junk.’

What have you thought when you’ve seen promotional products are sticking to crumbs at the bottom of a conference bag, kicked partially under a table or poking out of a trash can in full view of all passers-by? Obviously, you don’t want your brand to be associated with anything in that condition. Your promotional products are gifts from you to your clients. You’re showing your clients and prospects what their business is worth to you through the products you give them. Think of your products’ perceived worth. It increases with a product’s relevance, fit to purpose and the emotional connection mentioned earlier.

Give relevant products that tell a story. Whether that’s your story or the story of what your recycled products used to be. The telling of it creates a further emotional connection that helps people hold on to your product.

Products like the below are made from natural or recycled products. They’re suitable for festivals and other events and will leave a better impression that those trodden underfoot by the crowds.

• Cork reusable coffee cup
• Recycled paper notepad
• Seed pencils
• Bamboo Pen
• Watering can
• Branded fruit
• Bamboo cutlery set

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of an upcoming event. All the opportunities that you could seize with well-placed branded merchandise can sometimes make you go overboard with the giveaways. Instead of giving into the voice that tells you to ‘buy all the things!’, think about what your customers need and what they’ll use again and again. If you can get that product made from recycled or biodegradable materials (almost anything is possible), that’s even better. Environmentally friendly promotional products are a step toward more sustainable practices. They’re worth it to you, it means a lot to your clients, and we love to see greener products out and about.

Let us know how Impact can help you choose environmentally friendly promotional products or follow us on LinkedIn for more inspiration.