As part of our interview series "Sustainable brand presence – but how?", we spoke to Michael Morgenthaler, Head of Brand Leadership, Experience & Partnerships at BKW. We wanted to find out from him what strategies and measures he and his team use to achieve a sustainable brand presence in live communication.
In eleven years at BKW, Michael has gained a wealth of experience in the field of live communication and has been able to put his expertise to good use. Today he is responsible for all brand communication at BKW AG, an international energy and infrastructure company based in Bern.
Michael Morgenthaler: Awareness of sustainability is an integral part of our corporate management. This focus has been strengthened in recent years and will remain central in the future. By acquiring numerous service companies in the engineering and installation sector, BKW can offer the entire energy value chain under one roof. Our focus is on buildings, energy and infrastructure. In line with our corporate purpose, we strive to achieve a balance between the environment and prosperity by designing our solutions efficiently and sustainably. Sustainability is a high priority throughout the company, which we address specifically in the Sustainability Report 2023. As an energy service provider, we make a significant contribution to acting more sustainably. We demonstrate this in our communication through showcases, for example in buildings such as the “Home of Sports”, the new Swiss Ski HQ. The content is useful and valuable. Two years ago, we developed the guiding principle “We make living spaces more liveable”. For us, MAKING also means IMPLEMENTING.
We focus on synergies and endeavour to implement sustainability measures in a bundled manner and show the event participants the importance of sustainable measures at BKW. Especially at major events, such as the Ski World Cup Adelboden, we make use of renewable energies in the marquees, but we also use sustainable measures when it comes to travel (shuttle bus or charging stations) and catering (sustainable crockery). Giveaways are also already made from recycled materials, such as the protective cover for ski goggles. With 150 brands in the portfolio, there is still plenty of potential for more efficient collaboration.
The aim is to create a harmonised brand with customisable branding.
However, our events also need to stand out. Content and message are crucial here in order to create a brand connection.
We live sustainability through “storyscaping” – we don’t just tell stories, we act. For example, we install charging stations and solar panels at our event venues to make events more sustainable and thus raise awareness together. Small details count: we upcycle materials from major sponsorship events, such as grandstand fabric, into bags or cases and thus create effective stories. This also activates our 12,000 employees, which is a great pleasure because we can make a greater contribution every year. Together with the Sustainability team, we focus on raising awareness of the topic and promoting it in communication without going over the top. Small things are not inflated.
We are transparent, stand behind our measures and can show what we have achieved with our contribution.
In addition to the Sustainability team, we have also explicitly employed people in the Corporate Communication team who deal with sustainability communication: how various measurement tools can be further developed, but also how agencies and service providers can be integrated in order to advance the common goal.
We have no fixed restrictions and always strive for the best possible results in every situation. For live events, we have to deliver on day X and everything has to work seamlessly. Flexibility and agility are therefore just as crucial. As a team, we discuss how we implement measures so that we always reuse and further develop materials. Ideas are always scrutinised for their potential. Whether we choose a standard location or a special one – such as a power station – depends on synergies and budget. An event is always associated with an expense and is therefore linked to a budget. Ultimately, we decide after weighing up all the factors.
It goes without saying that we at BKW have committed ourselves to modern guidelines and standards in the field of sustainability. We take the issue very seriously and are facing up to the challenges. All employees are aware of the need to ensure that the content here is correct: they are also sensitised accordingly through workshops and training courses. The entire Sustainability team focuses on defining those standards and on their data and reporting.
We attach great importance to ensuring that our upcycle stories convey clear and authentic messages.
We are aware that greenwashing involves a fine line. Are we possibly exaggerating small measures? We want to constantly scrutinise ourselves here. Honesty and transparency are important to us. We also take care to avoid greenwashing when purchasing services. We treat topics such as climate neutrality and CO2 compensation with scepticism and communicate them cautiously. BKW is committed to sustainability measures that make an obvious contribution, even if it is small. We can achieve more together through conscious and continuous efforts.
Sustainability is already a buzzword these days. Content is therefore scrutinised by our Sustainability department to avoid misuse and to comply with regulatory requirements. Our aim is to create an authentic and effective brand presence where the content is always meaningful and relevant. With events, sustainability is often a challenge as the project itself is not sustainable, and budget discussions are part of it. We have to carefully weigh up how much we invest in sustainable measures and where we make compromises. While individual events differ, we can make better comparisons with standardised parameters for event series.
Among other things, we have developed a tool for measuring sustainable events in order to promote organisers’ commitment to sustainability.
This innovative tool enables all BKW partners to assess the sustainability of their cultural and sporting events free of charge and to optimise their sustainability performance from year to year.
Sustainability continues to gain in importance and influence society. People are questioning actions and that is an important development.
A sustainable brand image is an ongoing process that we are continuously developing.
The event landscape in Switzerland is also changing: more and more sustainability managers are being hired and sustainability concepts are being developed. We are orientating the BKW brand towards the future and developing measures to activate the brand. The demand for experiences is also increasing, which is why we are making targeted investments in visitor centres to give our target group a unique brand experience – and thus an understanding of the entire BKW world – on site. For sustainable relationships with our environment.
Read our white paper for six valuable tips on how to plan your event more sustainably and make your brand presence more sustainable.
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