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Sustainable Event Marketing: How Events Can Work with the Planet, Not Against It 

  • Writer: Molly Phillips
    Molly Phillips
  • 2 days ago
  • 3 min read

Sustainable Event Marketing is an important part of what we do at Image.


From working with clients who put sustainability first, to creating exhibition stands which are genuinely sustainable, eco-conscious choices ensure that we can continue doing what we love far into the future.


But it goes beyond the planet, also. As a society, we understandably place so much emphasis on sustainability now. What that means is, if you can create a genuinely sustainable exhibition stand, it helps your brand stand out as caring, trustworthy and responsible.


But what do eco-friendly exhibition stands actually look like?


Let’s take a tour.


Aviva's 'Responsible Exhibitor' Award, which is a certificate printed on wood, on an easel.
Aviva's Responsible Exhibitor Award after BIBA 2026

  1. Aviva’s Sustainable Event Marketing at BIBA

Three years running, Aviva have achieved the ‘Sustainable Exhibitor’ award at BIBA, from event:decision.


We consulted with Aviva to achieve this, as it is core to their company, as well as ours.


These award-winningly eco-friendly exhibition stands work for a few reasons.


Firstly, we focus on re-using aspects such as the main coffee bar, slat walls and rear counter suite. These were all retrieved, refinished, and prepared for the new year, but were fundamentally involved in the life-cycle thinking process.


A big exhibition stand space. A banner-style structure reads 'Aviva' on the outside of its bright yellow ribbon, and 'Here for brokers.' on the inside, above the stand area. The main tower of the exhibition stand is pictured in the background of the photo, yellow, with a LED-light up timber top, sporting Aviva's logo. The body of the tower has a living wall in its centre, where plants grow like a strip down the middle, with a TV in their midst. The tower is surrounded by a countertop where baristas are hard at work. In front the tower, below the banner, the space stretches out into an expansive seating area, filled with, and fenced off by yellow planters and exposed timber dividers.
Aviva's Award-Winningly Eco Exhibition Stand (Photo: Machis Baboulene)

  1. Castle Colour’s Sustainable Event Marketing at PIE & Empack

This stand had a proud stamp of approval from EcoVadis, so it was important that it lived up to the eco hype.


For this exhibition stand, we used eco-fabric stretch and staple materials for the general stand graphics.


The main walls made efficient use of materials, as the primary structural aspects were built from stock on hire, so that it can be re-used as needed. The shelving was also reused, from the 2024 stand, but prepared for a new year. What’s more, the carpeting was Eco Velour; a sustainable fabric made from bamboo fibres.


A two-sided exhibition stand for Castle Colour Packaging. It is striped with their grey colouring, with the red logo top left. Then there is a stripe explaining 'FiberGuard', and the smaller wall is dedicated to green trees and 'ecovadis' branding. There is a counter top in the foreground, and two tables with chairs.
Castle Colour's Exhibition Stand at PIE & Empack 2026, complete with ecovadis stamp of approval. (Photo: Image Experiential)

  1. Earth Rated, rating the Earth highly, at PATs

Earth Rated also made use of hired structures and Eco Velour, so that they might live up to their name.


Key to this stand was making sure that the products, which were made from recycled materials, of course, were displayed in an equally eco-friendly manner. So, you’ll see the custom-designed box wall, which was made to be reusable, as was the tall shelving unit, whose shelves were repositionable.


Earth Rated's custom exhibition stand at the Pet and Aquatics Tradeshow 2024. It's a dark green archway, with 'earth rated' written across the proscenium like a banner. Green shelves display recycled products. The floor is wood-appearance vinyl.
Earth Rated's recycled product range at PATS 2024. (Photo: Image Experiential)

How Does It all Work?

To achieve the outstanding results, we do a few key things:

  1. Adopt ‘life-cycle thinking’ - this means considering the materials that come together to create their beautiful exhibition stands. Structures are re-used over and over again, often for decades, so that materials don’t have to be bought fresh each time. For aspects that are less reusable, by nature, we make sure we use recycled materials.


  1. Consider the Technology we use – a lot of tech goes into project planning and designing. By keeping up to date with the latest models, we reduce waste, energy and labour, which helps ensure every step of the process is as eco-friendly as possible.


  1. Making individual events not only climate neutral, but climate POSITIVE! We partner with Ecologi to achieve this. The partnership accounts for the 10% of our projects that we cannot effectively reduce the environmental impact of, in-house.


Using Ecologi, we’ve contributed to the support of lots of climate action initiatives, including funding local trees, donating towards projects looking to protect forests in Columbia, and avoiding methane emissions from landfill in Brazil.


You can check out the details of our Ecologi forest here for more eco-inspo!


And, if you want more exhibition stand inspo, you can see our portfolio here.


Any ideas or plans? Give us a shout.



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