The second life of your marketing and commercial assets

Your company generates lots of waste that could be reused or repurposed. Thanks to this article, you will build an upcycling strategy to use your promotional assets more wisely.

As the year comes to an end, salesmen put the madness of the previous year’s deals behind them and focus on the year ahead. As January rolls on and the after-Christmas storm slowly calms, it also marks the beginning of the next twelve months. For you, it means you’re already planning new campaigns and how your business will grow. In order to carry out these new marketing strategies, you will need a new set of promotional assets and materials. Is there a way to create them without investing the same amount of money and time? Before we dive deep into the idea of giving your marketing assets a second life, let’s clear something up:

Every company produces waste.
Plain and simple.

No matter how much of a zero-waste brand yours strives to be, there is always some kind of leftovers or by-products. If it’s not from marketing assets, it’s the maintenance of your office or the production that takes place at your facilities. They can, however, be much more eco-friendly.  In this article, we will focus on turning the most problematic ones into an addition to the sustainability of your business.

How can your assets be repurposed?

Let’s think about your last Christmas campaign. Your creative team worked hard to develop the entire narrative, and the result was a full set of materials - brochures, product catalogues, posters, banners, and so on. Each one was unique and equally necessary to make your sales go through the roof (which hopefully they did). But now, after the dust has settled, these materials are no longer useful and there’s no point in storing them anymore, right? The consequence is a load of materials that have no value to you. Frankly, that’s the story for many companies. 

At the end of their seasonal campaigns, many of the commercial assets turn into waste. It’s not even the result of wrong estimations regarding their production. Markets are quite unpredictable, and so are many events and trends that all define your marketing strategies. 
 

That includes products too, and some big household names - like Burberry and H&M- learned the consequences the hard way. Many clothing companies were under fire for their annual reports, where destroying unsold merchandise was listed as part of their strategy.

You’re different. As a brand, which aims to promote sustainability, you can’t let something like that slide. You need a way to deal with unused materials and products in the most eco-friendly way possible. Therefore, instead of throwing it all away, you can upcycle them.
 

Does your company generate lots of waste? 
Click here to turn your Waste into Value!

Upcycling helps to produce new assets from existing ones

Thanks to the application of upcycling, materials such as brochures, ad banners and other promotional gadgets can all be repurposed. With just a few cuts, a bit of sewing and lots of creativity, old ad banners will constitute a great gift or a part of your company’s “green” merchandise. Even shredded paper from your office has a shot at a second life. 

If you happen to have a lot of products in stock - and you know they won’t be of any use - you can develop an upcycling strategy to bring them to the market once again. Alternatively, waste and products can be donated and turned into entirely new items. In this way, the waste your company generates is kept within a cycle that you control, and helps you keep your marketing investments inline. 

These kinds of creative solutions can be created at Dekoeko.com, where you can find designers from around the world, who’ve mastered the art of upcycling. Our platform matches businesses like yours with creative minds from around the world, with a common goal to turn products and company waste into beautiful gifts or items for everyday use.

Deko Eko has already collaborated with numerous companies, and the results were successful stories of upcycling. 

• IKEA turned their iconic blue and yellow shopping bags into handy backpacks for their employees. Furthermore, old IKEA catalogues were reimagined as business card holders (read more).
   

  

  
   
• Another exciting project was Deko Eko’s collaboration with BNP Paribas. The company has decided to upcycle their old commercial banners. With the help of a team of circular designers, these banners were turned into cool tote bags, which were distributed among the employees of the company.

Benefits of “a second life” philosophy

Activities related to upcycling aren’t only a feel-good choice. While providing your employees with new backpacks helps you build a philosophy of eco-friendliness in the company, there are many other benefits to repurposing your waste and older products. Here are some of them:

• It engages your employees.

Numerous studies suggest that modern employees - especially millennials - value and seek companies that value sustainability. Since many modern brands rely on their employees’ well-being and good opinions, consider upcycling as a great way to build the morale of your team. By reusing the old promotional materials you will help your employees develop a higher degree of attachment and loyalty toward your brand. Furthermore, they will be more eager to share updates from a company that shares their values. Remember, every company is only as strong as the people who build it.

• Improves customer loyalty.

It’s not a hoax, but a fact. Customers prefer brands that demonstrate commitment to zero-waste and have sustainable values in their mindset. As found in a Nielsen study:
“Brands that are able to strategically connect (sustainability) to actual behavior are in a good place to capitalize on increased consumer expectation and demand.”
If you’re struggling with customer retention in your business, the application of upcycling (and a good understanding of its marketing power) can help.

• Helps you incorporate circular design into products and campaigns.

If you learn to better control your marketing assets, you will also start noticing the difference that circular design makes on a larger scale. If you create your campaigns with a circle in mind, you’ll eventually come up with a richer narrative that’ll emphasize the greener side of your business. Treat upcycling as part of your marketing strategy and don’t be afraid to emphasize it in your future campaigns.

• Strengthens your presence during events & conferences.

Although digital marketing has dominated many other sales channels, there are still numerous fields where traditional marketing works better. In such cases, upcycled gifts can be a great way to attract visitors at conferences or any other event. Instead of branded notebooks, think of upcycled ones. Trade regular tote bags for ones made from your campaign banners. The originality of these gifts makes your brand much more memorable.

• Increases the ROI of your assets.

Sounds unbelievable, right? 
However, repurposing your marketing assets increases the duration of time of their usage. If you upcycle them, you basically cut the costs of producing any new set of materials. If you create upcycled merchandise on your own, you can further increase the ROI on your existing assets.

Over to you

Every unused asset produced for your marketing campaigns can either end up in the trash or become an entirely new story. If you’re a brand that’s keen on catering to customers demands, those who value a zero waste philosophy, upcycling is a must for you. It also has several crucial business benefits, which include an improvement to your customer loyalty and better planning for the use of your future resources.

With Dekoeko.com, you can find talented people who will help you manage your waste and imbue your promotional assets with a new soul. 
 

Does your company generate lots of waste? 
Contact us to find out how to turn your Waste into Value!

Send us an e-mail.
Feel free to call us:  0031 620606747