The Focus

Although the are many sustainable issues facing Events sector, this particular blog will be focusing on the sustainable practices employed by Glastonbury Festival, one of the greenest and cleanest festivals around and how the Perth Fashion Festival can employ some of the strategies to be more sustainable.

Although the Glastonbury Festival employs many sustainable practices, the focus today will be on Waste Management and Transport. 

The blog will also look at the marketing challenges faced by this industry, the sustainable marketing practices used by Glastonbury and the impact on event marketers. Although they are many types of sustainable marketing practices, and the blog may touch on societal and economical marketing, the focus will be on environmental marketing, also known as ‘green marketing.’

A Background of The Green and Clean Festival: Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury Festival began in 1970, with 1500 guests and is now considered to be the largest Greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world with approximately 140,000 attendees over a five day period.

The festival aims to encourage and stimulate youth culture from around the world, in all its forms, including pop music, dance music, jazz and all the creative forms of art and design, including painting, sculpture and textile art.

A large area of the festival is set aside for complementary and alternative medicine, demonstrations and displays of environmentally friendly technologies and techniques, various forms of religious expression and a forum for debating environmental social and moral issues. The festival organizes market places, selling an enormous range of wares and places particular emphasis on offering high quality prepared food and hand made goods, including clothes and jewelry.

                                               

The festival is aware of its impact on the environment and since 1970 has been working with various environmental groups such as AGreenerFestival.com, Greenpeace and many others to adopt environmentally efficient methods and keep up its reputation to be one of the ‘greenest and cleanest’ festivals around (Glastonbury Festival n.d). 

The Image of Events & Sustainability

Events have an image of a hedonistic, resource gulping and garbage producing model but have the potential to change this image into one of a harmonious balance between human activity, resource use with minimal environmental impact (Jones). Some have even began to set the standard for sustainable events.

More and more festival organizers believe that their festivals environmental credentials have an influence on ticket buyers as 48% would pay more for a greener event, 59.4% stating it was an important factor when considering which event to go to and 36% state green as an important factor when buying a ticket and that it is the festival-goers opinions that are encouraging the move towards greener festivals rather than artist pressure (O’Neill, 2009).

The challenges of Marketing Sustainability

Research suggests that events are target by governments as a way to reach public and influence attitudes (AGreenerFestival. n.d.). Sustainability values, therefore can be a successful differentiator. Many marketers and festival organizers find that integrating sustainability values into a brand can contribute to market growth (Marketing and Sustainable Development. n.d.), preservation of license to operate, enhanced brand value and reputation, customer attraction and retention to name a few (Sustainable Event Solutions. n.d.).

Marketing is central to global society and when harnessed responsibility can encourage to recycle, reuse, save energy and support good causes (Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings 2011, 144). The sustainability approach adopts a holistic, integrated view of marketing, considering social equity, environmental protection, and economic livability (Jamrozy 2007, 117).

The challenge however, lies in a resulting deluge of skepticism - dubbed as ‘green wash’ (Ottman, 2011) due to a lack of awareness, understanding and trust about sustainability issues within consumers (Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings 2011, 145).

Marketing managers struggle to translate sustainability ideas in viable propositions. Sustainable marketing is viewed as an oxymoron and marketers have often faced criticism for being part of the problem – for encouraging unsustainable patterns of consumption (Marketing and Sustainable Development. n.d.). Telling people they can no longer drive everywhere or consume as they see fit is undoubtedly popular. The important message to deliver is that seeking more resource efficient ways of meeting our needs and aspirations does not mean a reduction in well being (Gordon, Carrigan and Hastings 2011, 146)  

Why is Sustainability Important?

The world is moving towards a common agreement that doing nothing about sustainability issues is no longer an option and the need to adapt our societies and economies to sustainable patterns of consumption is a pressing one (Purt 2011).

Social, economic and environmental imperatives are directing both governmental and corporate policies in the international sustainability agenda (Wong, 2009). The UK government and many others are increasing their policy frameworks for environmental protection and also believe additional emission charges and taxation should be considered (AGreenerFestival. n.d.).

Many organisations, find that along side the laws, their performance is now judged not only by the impact they have on human and social wellbeing, but also the natural environment (Sustainable Event Solutions. n.d.).

Sustainability : What is it?

There is a growing awareness of the importance of delivering and hosting environmentally sustainable major events (Marquardt et.al 2007).

Sustainability, is defined as considering the social, economic and environmental impacts to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own (Kates, Parris and Leiserwoitz, 2000).

Environmental sustainability, the focus of many events is described as an event that has successfully minimized its impacts on the natural environment (Marquardt et.al 2007).

Events and Sustainability

                                                                                                                                   

We drive to an event, when we could use public transport, we throw away bottles of water instead of refilling them, we print tickets instead of using the technology available to us…. It is not wonder that wastefulness is considered to be a byproduct to holding events (O’Connor, 2010).  

Land pollution from waste generation, air pollution from carbon dioxide generated by heating, cooling, lighting, pollution from diesel and petrol vehicle, noise pollution from the event, water pollution from spillages and administration office waste are some of the many sustainable issues facing the Events sector today.