According to a 2009 TNS Sofres/Voyages-sncf.com and Routard.com study on the French and responsible tourism, today "60 % of French people are aware of the concept of responsible tourism, compared with 27 % in 2007 and 59 % in 2008". The most informed are Parisians (73 %) and the 35-49 age group (69 %). At the same time, since 2002, eco-responsibility has become an integral part of the lives of companies listed on the stock exchange through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which requires them to publish the social and environmental consequences of their activities in their annual reports. However, especially since the crisis, the issue of sustainable development concerns all companies, whether listed or not, as Thierry Malfatto, Associate Director of the Event Connection agency, ELO Group, Éric Loizeau Organisations, explains. "In these difficult economic times, companies need to motivate their staff and customers even more by organising events that make sense!
So when Orangina Schweppes asked ELO to organise its annual convention, with the aim of using the occasion to encourage internal emulation, ELO set up the Les Carrés de la dignité (Dignity Squares) operation in Morocco. The aim was to get the message across: "Take yourself by the hand to grow and develop". The company chose to help a Berber village by participating in the design and installation of an irrigation system. Some forty Moroccan families have been able to acquire plots of land and make a living from the resources generated by this system, which has had the effect of stemming the rural exodus. The project cost around 30,000 euros. During the annual convention held in Morocco, 450 Orangina Schweppes employees spent half a day on site to see the results of this initiative. The following year, ELO offered its client the opportunity to capitalise on its incentive via an extranet site where all employees could follow the progress of the village. At the same time, a competition aimed at the sales force enabled the winners to return to the village. But as Thierry Malfatto points out, there's a world of difference between good intentions and concrete action. "It's a long-term job, because we have to get the customer to think about the question of reward. Do we absolutely have to go to the ends of the earth, or realise that the real incentive is just around the corner? Awareness is gradually growing, but companies are now really thinking about the environmental impact of an operation. Just two years ago, this attitude was quite exceptional.
Depending on the operation, the agencies can call on specialists. For example, in partnership with Chamonix and the Accor hotel chain, ELO has set up a programme to raise awareness of global warming, including hikes on the Mer de Glace in the company of Éric Loizeau, renowned navigator-mountaineer-adventurer and founder of ELO. Moments of great intensity. For its part, Ethik Event, ELO's specialist ethical events agency, organises incentives in complete darkness to help groups discover new sensations and raise awareness of the difference. Dinners are held in the Dans le Noir restaurants with which the agency is affiliated. Diners enjoy their meal in total darkness, guided and served by blind people. Similarly, workshops and challenges can be organised in the dark. "These experiences are much appreciated because they involve the participants by erasing all differences, be they hierarchical, social or physical," explains Fabrice Roszczka, Managing Director. The participants help each other and exchange ideas without taboos, emphasising communication, which again strengthens cohesion.
In the same spirit, in 2008, Ethik Event organised an Olympics for a mail-order company, with activities featuring a disability: a wheelchair race and an evening with a musical group made up of blind people. The prizes for these Olympics were converted into financial donations which were then given to an association. The operation was so successful that the client decided to repeat it this year, with a programme featuring recycled products.
Another player that has been active in sustainable development for many years, the Ormès agency adheres to the principles of the UN Global Compact and invites its service providers to guarantee that their practices comply with current regulations, country by country. Internally, a green team was set up in 2008. This is a group of volunteer Ormès employees of all levels and skills who have decided to become involved in the agency's CSR approach. The team meets every two months to review current projects, measure results and set new challenges. At the same time, the agency supports a number of humanitarian projects, including the creation of a foundation to help tsunami orphans in India, support for the harelip treatment campaign in Vietnam, the rebuilding of a school after cyclone Nargis in Burma, the renovation of an African village, and, in France, collaboration with the world of disability through the Handi-Art association. Customers can also get involved on an ad hoc basis.
In all cases, Ormès is involved in the projects it supports, committing itself to seeing them through to the end and reporting back. "In the same way, for us, an incentive must contribute to creating an exchange between the participants and the people living in the place where the operation takes place", says Vincent Schelgel, Marketing Director. This responsible approach is symbolised in particular by the agency's decision not to give any corporate gifts at the end of the year in 2009. Instead, it has decided to donate the budget usually devoted to this tradition to the charity Mécénat chirurgie cardiaque enfants du monde, which enables foreign children to undergo surgery in France.
Public System has a long-standing commitment to sustainable development, as Christophe Larrenduche, Managing Director of the Sagarmatha subsidiary, explains. "We were one of the first communications agencies to adopt a socially and environmentally responsible approach. For several years now, the agency has been supporting a number of associations, including TFD (Tourism For Development) via Anaé. Similarly, in autumn 2008, Sagarmatha opened the Namaska department, specialising in the organisation of solidarity-based and/or sustainable events. At the same time, all in-house carbon emissions generated by travel are offset via the CO2 Solidaire association. It also offers this service to its customers. The agency is also a member of Nos Quartiers ont des Talents, which commits its employees to sponsoring a young graduate from the suburbs and helping them to find a job. To go even further, it has joined IMS Entreprendre pour la cité, a network promoting the societal commitment of companies to sustainable development... And this goes well beyond the eco-design of an event," stresses Christophe Larrenduche. This expertise has earned the agency the contract to organise the 50th anniversary of Unapei, the national union of associations of parents of mentally handicapped people and their friends, for 2010. The event will be held at La Villette and will take the form of an arts festival. At Zitrocom Voyages, Delphine Masson, head of the travel department, is offering companies the chance to donate to the charity. Finally, the agency has obtained Lucie certification, awarded by Qualité France Association. This label enables consumers to identify companies committed to sustainable development in the economic, social and ecological fields. Each year, companies wishing to obtain this certificate must prove their efforts in this area. "In order to advise our customers and organise a 'sustainable' operation for their incentives or business meetings. "A few hours, a day... there are many ways to turn an event into a socially responsible adventure. And this applies whether the event is held in France or abroad". This initiative can be reflected in the choice of means of travel, accommodation, type of catering... or even in carbon offsetting, involvement in a solidarity action: renovating a school, developing sports fields, supplying books to a library, reforesting an endangered area, converting points won in a challenge into financial donations to an association...
For its part, the Cap Kay agency, founded in 2007, has positioned itself in the field of eco-responsible events and is working with Ademe, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency, to develop a tool that should enable companies to get a real return on their economic, social and environmental commitment. "In particular, we are organising collaborative, non-competitive challenges consisting of fun and sporting workshops in which the shared objective is to find solutions to save the planet... Through our actions, we want to demonstrate that sustainable development is also a source of eco-innovation and creativity", says Erwan Chichery, Director. Since 2008, Chichery has noted an increase in requests from companies for sustainable development initiatives. This trend is set to strengthen with France's commitment, via the Grenelle II agreements, to extend CSR to companies with more than 500 employees.
In the same vein as Cap Kaya, the Fair Incentive agency has positioned itself as a leader in the field of events. In 2008, EOS won the Grand Prix for strategic events, for a weekend organised in the Bay of the Somme on the theme of disability: 150 lawyers took part in cleaning up a beach... Through this action, tempers were revealed and cohesion was forged. "We don't want companies to be afraid of tinting their incentives with solidarity or humanitarianism! On the contrary, in times of crisis, they will be more credible by organising such an operation and will achieve their objectives while conveying a positive image", concludes Michel Bensadoun. Incentive 4 ) The green wave may be sweeping the world, but not all customers planning an incentive are militant environmentalists. The service providers here invited to take part in a clean-up operation during an Ethik Event eductour are influencers. 5 ) On foot, on horseback or on a scooter... electric: the means of transport adapt to the terrain, the season, but above all to the trend: don't use polluting, backfiring engines. The idea of sustainable development was first put forward when Ethik Event was founded in 2005 by Nicolas Blanquet, who points out that "in France, there is a big gap between the official discourse of decision-makers and the reality; unlike in Germany, where this approach is part of the culture! Michel Bensadoun, Director of EOS, agrees: "As far as events are concerned, the French market is more about intentions than realisations."
One of the obstacles to its growth is the lack of understanding of what sustainable development entails and, in particular, the fear that such an operation will be more expensive than a traditional event. Once reassured and informed, customers generally accept the proposal. Provided it is attractive and creative! In 2008, for example, EOS won the Grand Prix for strategic events for a weekend organised in the Bay of the Somme on the theme of disability: 150 lawyers took part in cleaning up a beach... Through this action, tempers were revealed and cohesion was forged. "We don't want companies to be afraid of tinting their incentives with solidarity or humanitarianism! On the contrary, in times of crisis, they will be more credible by organising such an operation and will achieve their objectives while conveying a positive image", concludes Michel Bensadoun.
