In the picturesque surroundings of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, the BPMA hosted their first Sustainability Conference to celebrate the launch of the StepForward Pledge for its members on 8^th June.

Bringing together expert speakers, conference workshop and collaborative discussions, members have hailed the event as the signal the industry has needed to drive the industry forward.

Members who attended approached the Conference with enthusiasm, engagement and energy, helping drive not just conversation but action.

The StepForward Pledge has now launched

With over 35% of BPMA members now registered to take the StepForward Pledge, the Conference opened by celebrating over 15 different members who were the first to complete the milestone for the year.  Since the Conference, more members are now taking their Pledges and signing up daily, making their commitments towards a more sustainable future.

Congratulations to all the members who have completed their StepForward Pledge for 2023-24 so far!

Industry audit findings revealed

Revealing findings from an audit at the Conference which had benchmarked member progress on Scope 1, 2 and 3, finding out where the industry ranked itself is helping drive the BPMA’s agenda and approach provided the start of a great conversation for the day. The BPMA asked everyone to get involved in the audit with questions about how their businesses were doing on ESG (environmental, social, governance) goals linked to scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, the intent and action. The results were fascinating and showed member intention to take action was rated highly at 86% of those participating vs the benchmark of around 76%.

The BPMA is releasing a short report on these and other findings on our attitudes to sustainable business, demand and appetite for sustainable goods shortly.

 

Collaborative approach

After the generous networking breakfast, hosted and sponsored by twenty Suppliers of the event, we took part in a deep dive workshop to look at how intention and action could be progressed. Run by speakers Kevin Duncan and Sarah Duncan, authors of The Sustainable Business Book and a range of bestselling business books, they presented the benchmark audit. Citing high scores in intent to act but mixed results in how this intent would be represented in action, Kevin and Sarah engaged members in a question and answer session to explore the reaction to the results, why action was necessary and the barriers many business may face.

Bringing this into the core of their session, the workshop saw groups working together to look at ideas and strategies the whole industry could adopt, where the Association could focus attention and efforts together with understanding how stakeholders could be engaged on the ESG journey.

With collaborative ideas and inspiration in abundance, the BPMA was able to take away a range of ideas members could get behind to accelerate the pace of change. Every delegate was presented with a copy of The Sustainable Business Book to use in their organisations to drive action.

Marking time

New BPMA partners, Planet Mark, joined the Conference to talk about the pace of change and the need to act. Speaker Jonathan Withey, Director of Transformation and ESG at Planet Mark, explained the reasons behind the drive for change now, not later and the role our industry has to play. Discussing the newly formed partnership with the BPMA, Withey discussed how certification works and why it matters. Citing important news such as the legalisation about carbon neutral claims were no longer possible and what this would mean for promotional merchandise, the BPMA announced to attendees the range of support and input which would be available from Planet Mark to members on this area and many others.

Picking up a range of interesting and far-reaching questions from members on their role and responsibility, Jonathan reported back just how impressed and inspired he was about the commitment of the industry to drive positive impacts and transformation. Noting the need for the industry to adopt a credible net zero transition strategy, he also noted the significant challenges ahead such as understanding and quantifying the carbon in the products sold, educating and helping customers in choosing the right solutions to do more good whilst still promoting themselves, legislations and policies coming into force plus building authentic and transparent plans to focus on the most significant impacts.

Withey reminded attendees of the need to be on top of their marketing messages and to avoid greenwashing. Understanding that even with the best intentions, mistakes could be made so it was important every business took responsibility in this area.

Celebrating the engagement and momentum in the room, he noted the work ahead and how much Planet Mark were looking forward to working with the industry.

Purposeful merchandise

The afternoon session kicked off with inspiring repurpose company, A Good Thing. Co-founder Richard Benwell explained to delegates the role unwanted and surplus goods can play in changing lives, and importantly avoiding landfill. Presenting a range of examples where unused promotional merchandise had gone on to have considerable impact with charities all over the country, Richard explained the process was simple and it was free to try for any business.

Before the end of Richard’s talk, several members in the room had signed up and he had already received offers of goods. Using the app, businesses simply create a profile and explain what goods are available and are matched with charities who could make use of what ever was available. Offering a discount for further use of the app beyond a first try, Benwell found the approach and enthusiasm in the room to indicate the desire to adopt a repurpose policy in the industry, A Good Thing had already made many new friends at the Conference.

Recycling reality

Staying on the recycling trail, founder of waste aggregator First Mile’s Bruce Bratley delivered a stark view on recycling promotional goods. Speaking in general terms about the typical types of recycling his business sees, he charged the members in the room to take more steps towards helping end users recycle the types of goods produced. Challenged by some attendees on the views shared, members discussed the ways in which their companies had already made huge strides to address the way their goods go back into the loop.

First Mile represent solutions for the industry across the UK and we’re consulting with them to see how they can help the industry on its recycling journey.

How the industry can help end users

An interview with UK Managing Director, Joe Sheppard of global event and experiential agency Elevate provided useful insights into why understanding the measurement and trace on B2B and B2C events was critical. Explaining the work which went into every event, Sheppard explained the work already taking place in his side of the experiential industry and why it was so important. ‘We measure every output, every journey – literally everything we do. It’s hard work but getting us to a net zero outcome is not only important for us, it’s important for every brand we work with to look at our carbon footprint and impact. Where we can reduce it, we will – even if this means buying differently and less’.

With a series of questions to look at what kind of buying behaviour he was now seeing. ‘Less is definitely more… take clients like BMW. For every event, they would buy apparel and tell us to just get rid of it at the end of the event with no idea of where it would go – and that was to landfill mostly. Now, we see a different attitude and approach – better quality, reused frequently and recycled at the end of its useful life.’ Asking Joe about how the promotional merchandise industry could help companies like his, he simply stated ‘we want and need better options to help us achieve sustainable goals and the information which goes with those goods.’

Members driving the industry agenda

Concluding with a panel and session to determine where the BPMA can drive the agenda, we were very pleased to welcome our member panel featuring distributors AD Merchandise’s Commercial Director Nick Green, Colette Jeanes, Procurement & Sustainability Director for Prominate in the UK and Co-Founder of Project Merchandise, Jeremy Benson spoke about their drivers for sustainable success. Agreeing education in the industry was paramount, the panel discussed a range of approaches and ideas. Themes of transparency and responsibility were central to the views shared and the need to really get to grips with ‘end of life’ for products in our industry. All agreed every business needed a top down commitment to really deliver commitment to the process every company was and will need to go through whilst recognising the path of continuous improvement ahead.

Wrapping up the Conference, the BPMA heard from members the need for the Association to drive the agenda with full commitment from members which included clear directives on areas such as repurposing, recycling and measuring the impact of the industry.

Promising more to follow in the coming weeks and months, the BPMA has a clear agenda to lead the world in sustainable best practice for promotional merchandise.

More to follow

The BPMA is working on the next actions for the members and more sessions, workshops and event details will be released shortly.

 

 

Published on: June 15th, 2023