Green Meetings - 10/01/2009
A BANNER Tote Bag
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You've heard of beating swords into plowshares. But how about beating signs into conference totes?
A BANNER TOTE BAG
IEG's 26th Annual Sponsorship Conference lives on--literally, in the physical world, thanks to the tote bags that IEG made using the banners left over from teh event, which was held from March 8-11 at the Hilton Chicago.
As befits a company that specializes in sponsorship and branding opportunities, IEG got the idea from one of the exhibitors at its conference--Britten Banners, whose priorLIFE division produces the recycled bags. "They had samples," said Liz Ware, executive vice president of IEG Client Services, "and we said, 'Absolutely, we have to do this.'"
Because the tote bags are made from recycled banners, each one looks different, with a patchwork appearance that incorporates logos, words, and other graphic elements on the banners. With the events industry's status as a top generator of waste, it's no surprise that meeting professionals are embracing them. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) has recycled more than 400 street-pole banners into tote bags, messenger bags, and padfolios. And, because the items are produced by a local company called RetroActif, GFLCVB "also saves on transportation and shipping," said Christine Tascione, CMP, GFLCVB's vice president of convention and group sales. "The only downside is that when all the banners are used up, there are no more bags available."
But unless you're set on using your own banners, that's not a problem. "When [your] banners have served their purpose, we recycle them into any number of products, " said Pam Klumpp, director of priorLIFE. 'We're also able to utilize any kinds of overruns or misprints that Britten happens to have in their shop." Added Ware: "At the end of the day, the point of this is to reuse and recycle, so if it comes from another conference, that's ok too."
A standard street-pole banner--31 inches wide by 75 inches long--makes about two tote bags. For custom jobs, priorLIFE includes a tag in each item that explains where the material came from. Ware's IEG bag, for example, says this: "The prior life of this tote bag was a large-scale banner at the 2009 IEG Sponsorship Conference, where decision makers from corporations and sports, entertainment, events, arts, associations, and cause opportunities come together each year at the industry's largest and most prestigious gathering."
Both Ware and Tascione say their born-again bags are a hit. "The program has been terrifically well received by our planners," Tascione said. IEG debuted its totes at the 2009 PCMA Leadership Conference in Austin in June, Ware said, and "had great feedback."
And why not? Recycled totes are one of those holy-grail sustainability initiatives that cut both ways. "It allows companies to recoup some of their banner costs," Klumpp said, "and at the same time, they're preventing unnecessary waste." There's even a third upside, according to Ware: "You could leverage a sponsorship with it. There's a lot of activation opportunities around it."
Once and Again
Tote bags are just the beginning. Companies such as priorLIFE and RetroActif also recycle banners to make:
- wallets
- laptops sleeves
- coolers
- messenger bags
- zippered pouches
- wine totes
- rain hats
- shoulder bags
- backpacks
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