How Basware Marketing Initiated a Sustainability Project

Basware recently underwent a little “procedure” to achieve a new look – a total brand overhaul and refresh. Changing brand graphic guidelines and marketing assets is exciting and a great boost to brand visibility. Everyone has a personal view of the new versus the old look, the colors, the pictures and the feelings it awakens. It creates a great conversation topic and a nice buzz. But it also has a downside: all the marketing materials that become invalid overnight.

The Problem: Outdated Marketing Materials

Some of us were efficient with our soon-to-be-obsolete materials – properly using up stock of giveaways or brochures. Luckily not that many brochures get printed these days, so that is no longer a big issue, but there was still marketing stuff left over. It feels bad to throw it away, especially some of the more robust things like rollups, banners and trade shows materials – not very environmentally friendly either.

We are an environmentally conscious company. Our values come from the Finnish culture and way of life, where our company roots are buried deep, and we value sustainability, green woods, clean air, beautiful nature with no waste lying around. These values can be appreciated around the world.

After our brand facelift this spring, some of our leftover giveaways went to schools, sports club raffles, charities and similar good use, also bringing Basware some good will. After finding uses for the smaller stuff, we still had loads of obsolete rollups and some huge banners left over. The mechanisms were in bad shape, so just changing the pictures to reflect our new visuals was not an option. The metal parts could be recycled, but what about the large picture fabrics? There was enough coated fabric material to cover the floors and walls of a small flat.

The Solution: Globe Hope

A company specializing in innovative repurposing called Globe Hope came to the rescue. Together with them we reimagined these leftover materials and planned a new purpose. Our ideas went into testing with the talented sewing department of Globe Hope, kicking off this sustainability project. In just a few days we had colorful, unique luggage tags, zippered pouches and document pouches in our hands. Like pieces of a puzzle of our old rollups and flags, it was fun recognizing where the pieces came from originally. Once we received the actual recycled giveaways, we found out everyone wants them and thinks they are very cool.

Not only did we find a green solution that upholds our commitment to sustainability, we were also able to give our colleagues keepsakes of their past projects – produced through the hard work, creativity, collaboration and pride of our team. We’re very excited about our new branding and the future, and we continue to celebrate our 30+ years of history in the industry with these little reminders.