clean.
This year, Recipric created a partnership that leverages the Portland Sea Dogs’ platform to elevate the importance of Maine Clean Water week, in partnership with Sebago Clean Waters. Together, the two organizations will promote this partnership on social media, encouraging Sea Dogs fans to post photos of themselves drinking products made from Sebago Lake water with the hashtag #KeepSebagoClean for the chance to win Sea Dogs tickets.
To support this comprehensive sustainability strategy effort, the club has engaged Recipric as their Front Office Sustainability Agency, who will develop the club’s sustainability strategy and will provide tactical solutions for the club to take positive action. Recipric will engage the club throughout the season and fans can expect regular updates on the progress of those efforts.
Ben had a conversation with Kristen Fulmer, a Sustainable Design expert that creates spaces to support health and wellbeing. Sometimes it might feel like sustainability is at odds with luxury real estate, but Kristen shares design strategies that are better for the planet and better for people. These solutions are made for athletes who need homes that help them rest and recover.
The World Surf League (WSL), a governing body that is dedicated to showcasing the talent of the world’s best surfers, has embraced its vision for impact more holistically. In 2021, it launched PURE — a program with internal commitments to enhance League sustainability practices — and PURE’s call to action, “We Are One Ocean,” a petition to conserve 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. While the League is early in its journey, it is setting the precedent so that other sports leagues and teams can get comfortable with adopting a similar approach.
“Because it’s the right thing to do” shouldn’t be the only reason to take climate action. Just in time for Cop26, here are ten practical reasons why leveraging climate-smart strategies across all departments in your front office is good for business:
Sustainability consultant Kristen Fulmer suggests teams and concessionaires reduce portion sizes to limit waste, and that effective messaging can lead people to enacting some of these basic changes at home. Stadium kitchen operations present clear sustainability possibilities. Fulmer mentioned smart meters that identify where energy waste is occurring, technology for reducing energy use around refrigeration systems, and on-site renewable energy sources (solar and wind especially) as likely to proliferate in the coming years, especially in new venues.
At Recipric, I’ll be helping sports properties - clubs, competitions, athletes - become more sustainable by aligning and leveraging sponsorships from sustainable brands. Of course the inverse is also true: we’ll help sustainable brands develop and activate sponsorships with sports organisations. Kristen and I saw the expansion into sustainable partnerships as the logical next step of Recipric’s existing sustainability strategy services.
Kristen Fulmer, founder of the sports sustainability agency Recipric, noted that sports teams have a unique ability to positively influence fan behavior in this domain. She drew a comparison to the Washington Nationals’ partnership with True Made Foods to bring healthier ketchup to their stadium. “Because the team has done it, (fans are) probably more likely to recognize that label in the grocery store and buy it themselves,” Fulmer said. “So it’s almost facilitating environmental actions, because we know fans are so loyal to their teams that that trust is gained almost immediately.” Fulmer added that sports help bring environmental discourse to the mainstream. For example, Climate Pledge Arena, she said, generates discussions about sustainability that certainly wouldn’t happen otherwise.
As the temperature warms up and the vaccination rate continues to climb, travel is at the top of many wish lists this summer. As evidenced by the unofficial kickoff to summer’s record-setting Memorial Day travel, people are craving new adventures and reuniting with loved ones in person. You might be craving some of this travel yourself. And if you’re part of the 62 percent of Americans that are beginning to feel the effects of climate change, you may feel slightly guilty about the associated carbon emissions with travel. While that’s an understandable feeling, there are opportunities to reduce your carbon footprint while appeasing that travel bug. Even though travel is often the first thing we think of when we think about how we reduce our impacts on climate change, it’s not the only source of emissions. In fact, it’s not even usually the biggest.
I believe this triple-bottom-line collaboration is the future of sports industry partnerships, and that these kinds of powerful partnerships can be the future of any industry in general. The pandemic has shown us that creative approaches and strong collaborations are the keys to overcoming adversity while still hitting our business goals.
Returning to the ‘new normal’ won’t feel so normal after we’ve spent the last 18 months in this pseudo-temporary series of unknowns. While the future often felt uncertain, those of us fortunate enough to work remotely likely found a new work-life balance. We juggled the demands of constant Zoom calls with the benefits of a reduced commute, a flexible schedule, and control over our working environment.
It’s time to admit it. There are some elements of the pandemic work-life balance we’re going to miss, but they don’t have to go away entirely. Here are some tips to hold onto some of the remote work benefits you’ve gained over the past year—plus how to solve a problem you likely struggled with last year.
The reality is that climate change is the next global pandemic. At first, in early 2020, Coronavirus felt far away – maybe it didn’t feel like our problem. It was invisible, difficult to pinpoint, and eventually felt like it was too big to tackle. Because of those factors, we didn’t put our guard up. We know the story after that…
Recipric is bringing a new kind of agency to sports: A front office sustainability agency, representing the professional team’s interests from within the organization while providing a voice for sustainable decision-making. Recipric’s services are similar to an athletes’ agent, but instead of curating connections to top tier teams to advance a young player’s career, Recipric helps top tier teams form partnerships that will help them approach sustainability. Sustainability is often a new frontier for professional sports teams.
