Case study: sustainable corporate gift sets for Blue Castle Group

 

The gift that keeps giving 

When Blue Castle decided to give all of its staff members a gift, it wasn’t just a top-down, corporate decision. The idea of a multi-purpose business notebook came from the team itself, through a series of feedback sessions to discuss communication and other issues. But it was enthusiastically taken up by CEO Marie Harley, herself a keen notebook user, and the company approached us to see if we could supply the sustainable corporate gift sets they were looking for.

Blue Castle wanted a branded journal with a long lifespan, one that could have printed content added and removed as needed, and a branded pen, to be given to employees as a gift set.

We listened, and in response, we re-designed our Luxury Radnor Refillable Leather Journal, a bespoke hand-made journal in Italian leather, to include a six-ring binder mechanism so people could easily update its contents. As well as debossing Blue Castle’s new logo on the front cover, we added each employee’s first name, to make each journal personal (and easy to identify!)

Blue Castle is one of the UK’s most environmentally conscious waste-management and utilities’ providers. Innovation, recycling and sustainability are at the heart of what it does, so the staff gift had to match up to this – including the pen. The company decided on a Parker Metallic Jotter Ballpoint pen, a product consistent with the company’s zero-waste ethic. As CEO Marie Harley explains, “We don’t like having to throw pens away… staff can easily put a new ink refill in these”.

The final touch was a beautiful branded presentation box, made entirely from recycled and sustainable materials.

 

The response

It was important to Blue Castle that team members were able to use the notebooks in their own way. “Not everybody responds to suggestions – the key thing was ‘Use it as you wish,’” said People Director Leanne Hagues, “and that’s exactly what has happened.”

And there were some unexpected responses. After handing out the sustainable corporate gift sets, the company discovered that employees found the foil-printed gift boxes so attractive that they kept them on their desks and used them as in-trays for paper, adding an unintended extra ‘eco’ win to the gift!

Heidi is a particularly delighted user; as well as adding some attractive dividers to her journal to make it even more personal, she’s found it a huge help in her job:

“My working life has become so much more organised since receiving our beautiful Blue Castle leather binders and logo’d Parker pens. I use mine for meetings, segregating the three main areas of BCBS, for keeping important contact details, monthly tasks and my to-do list.

No longer is my desk covered in scraps of paper and Post-it notes; now everything is in one place making my work life so much more organized, thus minimising the risk of forgetting to do important tasks. The planners are very classy-looking as well as durable and when used in meetings show professionalism.’

 

Could sustainable corporate gift sets be just what you need to help you with employee engagement or to impress potential clients? Contact us today and speak with one of our knowledgeable team, who’ll be able to advise you on the best options for your needs.