Green Experiential Marketing, 1 Minute at a Time

As global carbon emissions increase,  would you be willing to do a little more for a greener experiential campaign?  

A few years ago I was working on a experiential marketing b2b campaign creating a virtual store in a 53’ double expandable trailer.  It was a very tedious setup as everything was branded and delicate.  The first setup took about 7 hours.  I began honing the process, I counted around 250 items that had to be unwrapped and placed at every event.  Items ranged from a 100 pound set of shelves to a travel size bottle of skin care product.  My goal was to shave 1 minute of each item.  It was a  small and achievable goal.  

I shaved 1 minute off about 180 of the tasks, saving 3 hours and bringing the set up down to 4 hours.  We averaged 3 setups a week, saving me 9 hours a week, or a work day for the 9-5er’s out there.

So I decided to apply this same strategy to help make our experiential campaigns a little leaner and greener.

Experiential Marketing tours are an important and effective tool for a businesses to communicate with consumers in person.  While not all of the practices are big carbon producers, if your product requires a mobile 800 square foot area things get complicated carbon-wise. 

There is still no carbon-free way to move the event around, but by looking at each small piece of the process there are opportunities to ease the carbon footprint.  Some require effort from the brand, some require effort from the agency, and some will even save money.   Each attempt saves a little bit and together they may add up to a substantial amount.  

First off, around a thousand miles a month could be knocked off by equipping teams with bikes and sweetening the hotel budget al little so staff are bikeable to the events and restaurants versus driving those fuel hungry tour vehicles.  

Speaking of those vehicles, the new Ford F series boast noticeably improved fuel economy over previous years.  Yes, the big f 250’s and 350’s as well are getting impressive highway milage.  Don’t forget there are also THREE Prius, Priuses, Prii?  So now it is a great time to use them on a city assault, if you can get them.  Volts, Ford Transits, there are a lot of options to help reduce the carbon footprint and since these vehicles are all relatively new on the street they are potential head turners.

It doesn’t stop with greener vehicles. There are also eco products for signage that use biodegradable products that decay in as little as 9 months vs 100’s of years.  Pair this signage with fittings using reusable and renewable bamboo versus the traditional pvc type product and you have the beginnings of a much greener event.   

Technology and the evolution of mobile phones has been a huge game changer as well as social media.  There was a time when a summer tour consisted of 300,000 printed coupons, those days are now over saving paper, printing, shipping, and our backs.  With things like mobile apps, Facebook, and Foursquare, the printed collateral days are behind us.

We are constantly on the look out for greener technologies to employ on all of our programs.  The most interesting thing we have found is that many ways to create a greener campaign pay for themselves.  The added cost of leasing a shiny new Ford over another late model is easily paid for by the mpg savings which could also be used towards a couple of bikes for tour staff.

Every campaign is different, taking time to analyzing the client needs, schedule requirements, and production logistics can yield numerous small opportunities to create a green experiential marketing campaign.  But numerous small opportunities can add up to a substantial environmental savings.

-MogulExperience