The debate surrounding sustainable brand experiences is often dominated by the question: “Is the most sustainable experience the one that doesn't happen at all?” Helen Gerbl (Team Coordinator Creation & Green Consultant at Jazzunique) began her PechaKucha presentation at Brand Experience Night with this question, immediately capturing the audience's attention. Experiences consume resources and energy, but they are an integral part of human culture and cannot be ignored. The challenge lies in combining experiences with a positive impact.

When striving for a sustainable brand experience, attention is traditionally paid to the three dimensions of sustainability. To this end, experts use tools such as materiality analysis to identify hotspots and plan measures. Checklists and consultation with advisors also support the project team in creating a comprehensive sustainability concept.

However, the traditional understanding of these experiences, such as events or trade fairs, is often limited in time and location. This is useful for key figures such as CO₂ balances or the achievement of labels. However, the actual meaning of sustainability – a “long-lasting effect” – knows no temporal or geographical boundaries.

As experience experts, we have the superpower of integrating the impact dimension that goes beyond a single event into experiences. A sustainable brand experience should therefore have a long-term positive effect on people and the environment. For example, when it comes to social sustainability in an experience we are planning, we should not limit ourselves to issues such as accessibility or occupational safety, but consider everything that can have a long-term, positive, emotional impact on people. This can be triggered by AHA or WOW moments, which are most strongly anchored in our memories. The same idea can also be applied to ecological sustainability: here, it is important to go beyond the resource balance of the event and extend its impact, e.g., through the reuse of materials and circular economy.

A brand experience can therefore be described as sustainable if its effect extends beyond the temporal and spatial framework and generates a long-term positive impact on people and the environment. Helen ended her PechaKucha with this appeal, giving the experience experts and guests at the Brand Experience Night something to think about that will hopefully have a long-term positive impact.

You can find out more about the brand experience and its content here.