If you have an event coming up that might get dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of attendees before the day is up, you could be looking at a fairly sizable footprint when it comes to the swag at your event. While that’s not a driving motivation for all companies and event planners, it can certainly be one for attendees and sponsors.
So how can you make a good impact on your audience and do a great job for your sponsors without looking as ungreen as it comes? And is there room to make eco-conscious decisions without blowing out your marketing budget for the season?
Here at Integra, we’ve been helping customers find the right giveaways for their events for nearly two decades. In the process, we’ve learned a thing or two about making a good impression on the people who show up at trade shows, conferences, job fairs — you name it.
If you yourself are looking to host a more green event, or you believe doing so would go over better with your target audience, it may be time to dive into the top most popular eco-friendly promos. To that end, we’ll explore five leading merchandise options that fall under the “better for our planet” category.
Eco-Friendly Promotional Product #1: Bags
Where there's event literature and promotional products, there are bags. It goes without saying that people need a place to keep the freebies and sponsorship flyers, along with anything they may have brought with them.
Since single-use plastics have been on the outs for years, even facing bans in several states due to the pollution they cause in landfills and natural areas, reusable bags have seen a huge surge in popularity.
You have some options in this category, which you can choose from based on your timeline, budget and preferred level of sustainability, including:
- Reusable plastic bags that fold into a pouch for easy storage
- Grocery-style non-woven bags, made of synthetic materials but reusable for much longer than traditional plastic bags
- Light cotton bags, similar to non-woven synthetic but made of sustainable cotton
- Canvas bags, such as many beach bags, made of a heavy cotton material that holds up to frequent use for many years
All options above can be branded sustainably thanks to many inks being soy- or vegetable-based. Plus, assuming your guests use them as intended, they'll stay out of landfills and oceans for an untold amount of time.
To keep your costs as low as possible, be sure to reach out to your print and promo supplier well in advance of your event. The more time you give, the better. To learn more about how long your printed bags or other swag might take with Integra, check out our timeline calculator below.
Eco-Friendly Promotional Product #2: Recycled Notebooks (Pens Optional)
Paper in and of itself is a highly renewable product that already gets the green stamp of approval. In fact, paper manufacturers in the United States follow several forest-friendly practices, including planting three trees for every one they chop down in production.
But you can take it a step further with post-consumer recycled notebooks, which add the benefit of keeping previously used materials out of the trash. Since most recycled products in the print and promo industry are produced domestically, you'll see higher prices with this option.
Request for your printer to include a note or logo on the notebooks that show the use of recycled materials. Doing so will make it clear where your priorities lie, indicating that you went a step further than you needed to for ecology's sake.
If you'd like to add a little something extra to your recycled promotional notebooks, consider a recycled plastic or cardboard pen to go with each one.
Eco-Friendly Promotional Product #3: Reusable Drinkware
It's good practice to provide refreshments of some sort at a large-scale event, and drinks need somewhere to go. You could opt for a traditional plastic cup, but your attendees will inevitably throw these cups away at the end of the event. That's less of an issue with biodegradable paper cups, which can be branded, but it's still quite a bit of trash.
Instead, you can offer reusable drinkware with your top sponsor's branding front and center. Options include:
- Plastic stadium cups
- Ceramic mugs
- Single- or double-walled tumblers
These gifts come with a high perceived value because of how long they stick around. Refreshments never made Mother Earth so happy!
But where will these drinks land when attendees go home and need a place to put them? Next up: Coasters.
Eco-Friendly Promotional Product #4: Coasters
This one gets fun — coasters are a great branded item to give out at an event, and they can come in almost limitless forms and materials. You can go with:
- Paper: They're small, low-cost and eco-friendly from the get-go, but remember that they're likely to be thrown away during or directly after the event.
- Recycled plastic: Keep plastic out of landfills with post-consumer recycled coasters.
- Leather: The material itself is eco-friendly, and it's often made into coasters with pre-consumer recycled, bonded leather scraps that would otherwise get tossed as waste. A win/win in our book.
- Specialty items: Some companies brand coasters made out of fun items like old vinyl records!
The bottom side of many coasters is corkboard, another biodegradable material with a low carbon footprint.
Eco-Friendly Promotional Product #5: Reusable File Folders
Finally, as people shuffle in the door, you'll inevitably be handing out lots of papers to go with any promotional goods. You'll have sponsorship booklets, flyers, floor maps, attendee presentation listings and maybe even an event agenda.
Prior to much of the green movement, many event coordinators used plastic bags to conveniently distribute this paperwork. Doing so is easier than trying to get each piece to each person without slowing the crowd down, but it's certainly not on the green side of things.
A better option? Transparent, reusable plastic file folders, which typically have a closing mechanism in the front and feature accordion siding that expands to allow for somewhere between 1 and 3 inches of paperwork to fit inside. Some of the major benefits of these folders follow:
- Reusability: People can take these folders home and use them for lots of paperwork moving forward, keeping both plastic and paper out of garbage cans for longer.
- Easy storage: Instead of throwing event paperwork away before they even make it home, attendees will be more likely to keep these sponsorship materials thanks to the clean presentation and easy storage.
- Transparency: The fact that these folders are fully see-through provides a great sponsorship opportunity. Both the front and back sides can feature literature from your sponsors so that it's the first thing attendees see.
- Branding opportunities: You can choose to place your own brand on the front of the folder, or raise sponsorship revenue by giving the space away to one or several other businesses. You could do a combination of both, even. The choice is yours!
However you choose to brand and present your folder, you'll gain the benefit of both convenience and reusability. Feeling organized is undoubtedly a must in the event planning space, and this solution just might get you there.
Coordinating an Event With Green Promos in the Spotlight
It may have previously sounded impossible to host an event while staying eco-friendly. Or perhaps you were worried that you wouldn't have a nice range of options for your promotional products. Plus, there's both budget and timeline to consider!
Now that you know some of the most popular green products and can see for yourself how much there is to choose from, we hope you've found your ideal way to keep your event-based priorities in line while assuaging your sponsors' and attendees' environmental concerns.
Before you dive into your project, you may still want to consider best practices for promotional items at trade shows, conferences, corporate parties, job fairs and the like. Check out our article on common mistakes professionals tend to make with promotional products at their events, and how you can avoid them at your own.
If you're looking for a vendor who can help you plan for your upcoming event, source the right materials and get your promos branded in time, Integra would love to help. Click below to get started on your project with an expert in all things print and promo.
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