Products Of Change’s May 11 in-person event is aiming for positive change
With sustainability a key issue in the greeting card industry, Products Of Change (POC) has invited card publishers to join those from across the consumer industries at its next in-person workshop.
The Sustainability 101 session will be held at host Informa Markets‘ offices in London’s Blackfriars on Wednesday, 11 May, where the POC team will present the basic principles on how businesses and individuals can take the next step on their sustainability journey, and also host a networking session for attendees afterwards.
The organisation’s Net Zero ambassador and advisor June Kirkwood and POC’s founder Helena Mansell-Stopher will deliver an educational session for those taking their first steps towards sustainability to help businesses facilitate positive change.
Created as a base line for the industry’s sustainability journey, the session will take place from 2pm at the Informa Markets offices at 240 Blackfriars Road, London. Here, the team will not only present the basic principles on how businesses and individuals can take the next step on their sustainability journey, but also host a networking session for attendees afterwards.
The May workshop, which will start at 2pm, follows the successful real-world debut of POC’s Sustainability 101 in March, where creatives, marketing experts, and sustainability officers from the likes of Paramount, BBC, The Insights Group, and Beanstalk, were among the 18 delegates.
Businesses from across the licensing and consumer products space – including housewares specialist Pure Table Top which has promised big plans in sustainable solutions in the coming months – joined the interactive session to broaden their knowledge of the topic, start the conversation with colleagues, and look at how to apply sustainable measures across their business.
Designed to deliver the basics of climate change and sustainability, covering environment, social, and governance elements, the workshop challenged attendees to think about their own relationship with the subject of sustainability, and offered some eye-opening facts and figures about the key concerns around it.
Ella Haynes, event manager of Informa Markets’ global licensing group, the team behind the Brand Licensing Europe exhibition and event host of the Sustainability 101 Workshop, said: “The work that Products Of Change does to educate, support, and encourage the industry to make positive and purposeful changes when it comes to sustainability – whether that’s within products design and development, your supply chain, or even within your own business – has been a real game-changer for consumer products.”
Sustainability 101 works to address the issue of impacts from everyday habits such as energy use and our purchasing through to the carbon footprint of some of the biggest global industries like fashion and consumer products.
The workshop will look closer at the application of sustainable measures within the consumer products space, exploring ideas around the circular economy and highlighting some quick wins that companies and individuals can achieve to set them up for larger conversations or actions moving forward.
Tom Sellicks, sustainability officer at Pure Table Top, said of the last workshop: “Helena and June were really engaging with the whole group and managed to introduce and break down the fundamentals of sustainability in business and how all businesses must become a driving force for good.
“It was great to be provided clear examples of best sustainable practices across multiple industries and sectors to make sustainability relevant and tangible to participants’ own work and day-to-day living. The workshop offered great insight into how to communicate sustainable thinking and initiatives to both colleagues and wider stakeholders.”
“I would truly recommend the Sustainability 101 Workshop to anyone looking for an extremely informative and eye-opening introduction to the world of sustainability,” said Brandgenuity’s manager of client service, Jordan Crozier.
“The POC team did a fantastic job at dissecting this beast of a topic through easy-to-understand information and group activities. I feel more empowered and able to have conversations on this topic with clients, new business leads, and existing partners.”
Tickets for Sustainability 101 on 11 May can be purchased here, priced at £120 plus VAT, with a 20% discount for Products Of Change members, then in July there will be a special workshop on the Circular Economy, hosted by POC advisor and independent sustainability consultant Arthur Parry.
