Coryse Borg from Newsbook interviewed CMYMK directors Matthew and Anika about the impact of promotional items and how a reusable bottle helped make a difference to the environment. Here is an excerpt from the interview that was published on Newsbook on 12th May 2021.
There is a perception out there that promotional products are the sort of things you throw away. Perhaps that means they are not very good for the environment. So what would you say about that? What is your stand?
Actually that’s one of the amazing things about promotional items. They present companies with the chance to give things which can change behaviours. When we’re talking about things that harm the environment single use plastic items often just end up in the sea or elsewhere. This presents companies with an opportunity to use promotional products to reduce the use of single use items.
Can you give us an example of a project that you worked on for a client to help us understand better how this works in practice?
Dive Systems, is a diving centre. Among other things they organise dive courses and guided dives for people that just enjoy diving. So as a company they have this close relationship to the marine environment. For their 40th Anniversary they asked us to help them out to come up with something that could make a difference to the environment, and to help them make a positive contribution.
So how did you go about to identifying a problem that you could tackle with promotional products?
We started of with a meeting with the company directors and we asked them to take us through the experience of an everyday client of the Diving Center. When we were speaking to them we discovered that every day hundreds of bottles are given out to divers. These clients receive bottles of water which they can take with them to the dive sites. In Malta it’s obviously very hot in summer so this helps to make sure that divers keep themselves well-hydrated. We came up with the idea of creating a reusable bottle for drinking water. These water bottles would prevent single use plastic from potentially ending up in the environment. Dive Systems staff would give out these bottles to new clients as they arrived and the divers would then fill them at the water reservoir at the dive centre.
Would you say that the reusable bottle helped the company communicate with its clients more than ?
Ultimately besides obviously making a change they were also making a statement about what they believe in. Through this promotional bottle they managed to achieve two things at the same time. Firstly, because it was a 40th Anniversary they had an opportunity to make a strong statement and make their mark. The printing of the 40th Anniversary logo also adds to the commemorative value of this promotional item. Secondly they wanted to convey a message to help others change their behaviour. Their message is printed on the bottle: “the sea is our buddy, treat it with respect”. Through this message that they wanted to share with everybody around but particularly with their clients that they’re serious about sustainability.
So you were a force for good with this client?
Absolutely, yes.
Click the following video to watch this interview
