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When Corporate Imaging Concepts, Inc. was founded in 1996, the company’s mission was to be best in class. That meant not only an allegiance to staying customer-focused (our clients and their customers), but in changing the rules of the game.  We believed that our customers wanted more than logo-imprinted trash and trinkets.  We wanted to be a branded products partner with experience, integrity and something really new to offer.

CIC was awarded 'Best Sustainability-Driven Campaign' in 2022

ROOT CAUSE

Corporate Imaging Concepts (asi/168962)

What does it take to make a sustainable promo campaign? Offering products made of natural or recycled materials is a good start, but that’s just the beginning.

“Simply selling eco-friendly products doesn’t make us sustainable,” says Steve Starr, sr. vice president of global programs and brand at Top 40 distributor Corporate Imaging Concepts (CIC; asi/168962). “I wish it did, but from a scientific standpoint, it’s really more of a feel-good thing than a do-good thing – and for us, we want to do good.”

So, when client Microsoft asked for thank-you gifts for the 40,000 team members and partners that worked on the October 2021 release of Windows 11, Starr and the team at CIC came up with a swag campaign that delivered on multiple levels of sustainability.

sustainable wearables

Not only did Corporate Imaging Concepts source high-end ethical pieces for the Microsoft Windows 11 launch through Polyconcept North America, but the Top 40 distributor also planted more than 60,000 mangrove trees as part of the campaign.

First, the distributor partnered with Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (asi/78897) to come up with a lineup of covetable items: an ethically sourced, recycled hoodie, a cozy blanket and a high-end reusable water bottle.

Microsoft team members were then able to choose what they wanted – to ensure sizing was accurate and that they received products they would both use and appreciate. “One piece of swag doesn’t fit all,” Starr says. “People love having choices.”

The next part of the promo campaign had perhaps the greatest impact – particularly when it comes to the environment. Microsoft has set a goal to be carbon negative by 2030, and CIC is working toward the same goal by 2025. To help reach those milestones, CIC had a mangrove tree planted in Madagascar for each piece of swag distributed.


“Simply selling eco-friendly products doesn’t make us sustainable. I wish it did, but from a scientific standpoint, it’s really more of a feel-good thing than a do-good thing – and for us, we want to do good.”

Steve Starr, Corporate Imaging Concepts


Mangroves are considered “powerhouses of climate mitigation” and “biodiversity superstars,” according to nonprofit The Nature Conservancy. “With tightly woven root systems and dense thickets of foliage, mangroves sequester carbon at four times the rate of terrestrial forests and can convert carbon dioxide to organic carbon at higher rates than almost any other habitat on Earth,” notes The Nature Conservancy. A healthy mangrove forest can store the equivalent of 21 gigatons of carbon. Mangroves, salt-tolerant trees that thrive on coastlines, make up a very small percentage of the world’s forests – and for many years their numbers were in decline due to human activity, but conservation efforts have been helping to turn the tide.

As a direct result of the thank-you campaign CIC organized for Microsoft, more than 60,000 mangroves were planted in Madagascar, which helped to support four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, according to Starr. That’s the equivalent of 1,071 single-bedroom apartments filled with trees, he adds. The project also provided 120 paid workdays to tree planters in the country. CIC anticipates that 12,973 tons of carbon will be sequestered thanks to their efforts.

“At the end, we have the ability to show them permanently in a digital fashion where the trees were planted and the impact it had,” Starr says. “I’ve been in the industry almost 15 years, and it’s not easy to hit the ball out of the park with an audience of 40,000, but this was very, very successful. I don’t think we’ve ever received so many emails that said, ‘This is exciting. We need to do more of this.’” – Theresa Hegel


Original publication on ASI Central.