Every marketer in the world is hands-on with data every day. At any moment, a marketing leader can present today’s new pipeline, the quarterly projections, and gaps at the minutest level. Every dollar in the marketing budget has a list of KPIs reported with data, that drives the next decision. Marketers know intimately, that what gets measured, gets done.
Sustainability is no different. Whether it is the percentage of the buying behaviors influenced by sustainability or the price elasticity, data can lead sustainability development, validate decisions, and pivot direction for improvements.
The premise of this example is a simple declaration to be more sustainable for a common, repeatable activity; however, incorporating data tracking magnified this impact by identifying:
- Quick Wins: Decisions that could be moved to 100% compliance with little disruption.
- Support Needed: Topics, geographies and managers that were struggling.
- Impact: The impact of one decision compared to the rest, as well as the overall impact.
The objective was to run ‘greener’ events. With collaboration of the sustainability team and global field marketing, it was agreed to launch with the company’s annual 30-city global roadshow. To get started, education was provided to engage and empower the company’s event planners and marketing stakeholders. The education highlighted that greener event decisions aligned to the company’s brand and to their customers’ needs, as well as benefiting the planet. It continued by sharing tools to help get started in sustainability considerations, as well as current ‘green’ examples from their own events and their partners’ events. [See Creating a More Eco-Friendly Event (sisloff-intl.com)]
Then a simple data analytics application was created for each manager to track their event’s sustainable efforts. There were 2 sections:
- Tracking CO2. This was simply achieved by each event planner adding datapoints into a dashboard. Datapoints included travel (air, road and public transport), hotel stays, waste and electricity used at the event venue. The dashboard was built to include pre-populated calculations as sourced from other, more complex CO2 calculators, and verified by the team’s contacts at United Nations. This section allowed event planners to conceptualize the CO2 impact by simply shifting certain decisions in the dashboard before the event.
- For instance, was there a significant CO2 impact by incentivizing public transport for attendees’ road transport?
- Or does it make a bigger CO2 impact to reduce one air flight via using a local speaker instead of an international speaker?
The final data provided a calculation of CO2 impact, which, in this case, was offset for a carbon neutral tour.
- Greener Decisions. In addition to the carbon footprint, there were dozens of decisions that event planners made that lent to the extended sustainability. These included the use of single-use plastic, paper, merchandise, furnishings and catering. By tracking these decisions, there was an immediate opportunity to improve areas that were not being addressed. It also provided clarity of geographies and event planners that were finding solutions, so that they could be tapped to share resources with the rest of the team. As further data was collected, reasonable requirements to take forward in the next year’s event plan became clear.
- For instance, only 14% of the events included any single-use plastic bottles. This was then a reasonable focus to drive to zero next year.
Data was critical to make the decisions and also the future improvements. What gets measured gets done so after the first year, here were the results and learnings:
Year 1 Results
- Carbon-Neutrality. The CO2 calculated from the event series was offset by a payment in alignment with the company’s carbon offset procedures.
- Greener Requirements. Based on the successful metrics of the first year, the team moved from zero to 24 requirements for all events moving forward.
- 12 actions requiring 100% compliance
- Plus 12 additional actions expecting 70% compliance
- Amplification. Observing the collective impact of all the individual decisions made a big impression on the event planners, creating a momentum to drive future progress. As a result, a new “try something new’ category was added to the data analysis, including sharing initiatives onsite with attendees.
Lessons Learned
- CO2 emissions. Some areas of the event plan will not be subject to change solely for lowering CO2. For instance, it doesn’t make business or ROI sense to reduce the length of the event. But other decisions such as # of flights, location, and incenting public transport also lower CO2, so alternate examples should be shared and celebrated.
- Communication. To drive change, repeated communication is required. This is also a motivating way to celebrate great efforts, share new resources, and add incentives. Note: there is no benefit in shaming normal misses, only the opportunity for continued improvements.
- It’s all about the individual. Any level of manager in any geography can be the most innovative and create the most impact. Set aside your bias and track the data.
This example shares that data is more than just a measurement of results. It is also a great tool to utilize in getting started. So, start by tracking your own progress, you’ll be able to see what elements are making the most impact and where there are weaknesses. Then, align your resources and focus accordingly.
Good! Let’s do this!
As we do …take action, celebrate …then repeat!
- Make Today’s Decisions Greener
- Educate & Inspire
- Track with Data & Improve
Check out the Greener Events Demo at https://changeourworld.qlik.com/#/