MARKETING MIX
There is an I in team A McKinsey & Company survey found that consumers became more engaged in sustainability topics during Covid‐19, with 88 per cent of respondents believing that more attention should be paid to reducing pollution. Consumers were found to start changing their behaviours during lockdown, with 60 per cent going out of their way to recycle and purchase products in environmentally friendly packaging. As marketeers, we’re wired to develop campaigns that result in some form of behaviour change - and what better example of this than the pandemic? So, what’s stopping us tackling more worldwide issues? Will changes filter through? It’s no secret that marketing departments have been notoriously bad at considering sustainability. From printing endless marketing collateral that ends up in the bin to manufacturing pull-up banners and pop‐up stands with a one‐time use at live events, I think it’s now time we moved sustainability higher up the priority list for marketing teams. If as consumers we care so much about recycling, sourcing sustainably and reducing plastic use, then there is hope that these people will be driving it up the agenda in their professional roles too. Amarketing director at an asset finance client of mine recently said: “We have seen an increase in sustainability awareness over the last couple of years and we have had to take it into consideration in our marketing too. We do look to source more sustainable, environmentally friendly products (giveaways) for the number of events we plan. mainly due to our own developing awareness on the topic but also due to customer demand.” It seems change is filtering through, but could this mean the end of printed collateral and production of comms materials?
Digital marketing cannot be the only way Digital marketing has come into its own during the pandemic, but is moving to digital-only the answer to sustainability for event marketers? In essence, no. We are human beings, and we crave physical interaction and face‐to‐face
contact. We simply cannot create the same levels of customer and employee engagement with just digital communications. There is a need for tangible marketing that you can interact with, be it during a meeting, on an exhibition stand or at a conference. The role of a UKmarketer has to consider both, digital and physical marketing communications, but in a ‘sustainable first’ way. It’s time to be creative and think sustainably, consider the use of recyclable materials in
28 MAY 2021 mitmagazine.co.uk
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