By Simon Evans, Sustainability Director (MIEMA CEnv) of PIE Factory
Trade shows are a foundational pillar of the B2B marketing world. For decades, they have served as irreplaceable arenas for networking and launching major products. They offer an intensity of human connection that digital channels simply cannot match. Yet, the celebratory efficiency of these mass gatherings hides an uncomfortable truth: the trade show model, in its current guise, is fundamentally at odds with the global sustainability imperative.
For example, according to Climate Trade, 1.2 million advertising banner stands are produced every year, that is 550 tonnes of PVC graphics that could end up in landfill.
As businesses everywhere wrestle with carbon reporting and the growing demand from consumers and investors for genuine environmental accountability, the extravagant, temporary and often disposable nature of exhibition events feels increasingly anachronistic. We believe in the power of physical brand experience, but we must realise that if we love the trade show, we have to change the trade show. The industry needs a new blueprint that respects both marketing goals and planetary boundaries.
Marketing’s Trade Show Addiction
The hold that exhibitions and conferences maintain over marketing budgets is not accidental; these events are deeply embedded in the annual marketing programme for highly practical reasons. They offer unparalleled access to qualified leads, condensing months of cold outreach into three intense days of face-to-face interaction. Where else can a brand meet its top ten clients and observe its direct competitors simultaneously under one roof?
This concentration of commercial activity creates a significant return on investment, or ROI, which budget holders find very difficult to ignore. The fear of missing out, or the FOMO effect, is perhaps the strongest factor perpetuating the model. No organisation wants to cede prime visibility to a rival that is prepared to build a costly bespoke stand. The competitive necessity of presence often overrides the ethical consideration of impact.
Beyond lead generation, trade shows provide a critical stage for major announcements. Launching a new product or a strategic partnership feels more impactful when delivered live from a substantial, custom-built environment. This reliance on spectacle and scale reinforces the culture of temporality. Each year, new investment is poured into flashier structures designed purely to dominate a space for a fleeting moment, only to be dismantled and often discarded a few hours later. Breaking this cycle demands a systemic shift in how marketing success is measured and delivered.
The Environmental Cost of the Global Circuit
The sheer scale of the waste inherent in the traditional exhibition model is staggering. The environmental price tag goes far beyond the mountain of unwanted printed leaflets and the
single-use coffee cups. The costs accrue across three major vectors: logistics, materials, and venue operations.
With over 600,000 tons of trash generated annually, trade shows produce the second most amount of waste, following behind the construction industry, according to Smash Hit Displays.
Logistics is arguably the largest contributor to the carbon footprint. Thousands of delegates, exhibitors, and production teams fly and drive to major international hubs. These travel emissions fall squarely within a brand’s scope 3 category, meaning they are generated by activities the company does not directly control but must still measure and mitigate. Transporting heavy, bespoke exhibition stands across continents only compounds this problem.
Then there is the materials issue. Exhibition halls are temporarily furnished with tens of thousands of square metres of non-recyclable carpet and flooring with erected walls of plasterboard and chipboard, which are illuminated by complex lighting rigs that often run on unsustainable energy sources. The lifecycle of a typical trade show stand is measured in days, yet the materials used have a durability measured in years, sometimes centuries. The cost of storage and reuse for bespoke stands often exceeds the cost of simply throwing them away and building new ones next year. This is the definition of a linear, throwaway economy operating at an immense scale.
The consequence is a continuous, wasteful loop. An organisation spends a fortune on a stand, a production company builds it, it lasts for four days and then it is sent to landfill. This unsustainable practice is no longer tenable in a world attempting to meet ambitious net-zero targets. The only path forward is to tackle the material infrastructure head-on.
From Visibility to Waste
For too long, marketing success at an event has been inextricably linked to physical mass. The bigger the stand, the larger the presence, apparently. This equation creates the direct link between brand visibility and material waste. We need to decouple these two metrics entirely. Success must be redefined, moving from size to substance, from temporary architecture to enduring impact.
This shift begins with the creative brief. Instead of asking how big a stand should be, teams must ask what purpose the experience serves and how its success will be measured without creating unnecessary waste. The focus should pivot from square metres of floor space to minutes of meaningful engagement. A well-designed, interactive demonstration using minimal, fully reusable or circular materials can generate far more valuable leads and brand affinity than a sprawling, empty structure.
Decoupling visibility from consumption enables marketers to focus on experience design rather than material quantity. It pushes for innovation in digital integration and modular physical structures. If a brand needs to display a product, they should choose lightweight, highly durable systems that can be easily shipped and reused dozens of times, instead of building a new scenic wall every year.
This approach demands a deeper level of planning and materials management. We must look for materials with a known, circular end of life. Every item brought into the event space must be accounted for on the way out, ensuring the highest possible recovery and reuse rate. This accountability is what separates genuine sustainability from superficial greenwashing.
Building Truly Sustainable Brand Experiences
The future of brand marketing at live events lies in circularity and thoughtful design. This means channelling creativity into more intelligent, more responsible solutions. The pioneers in this space are embracing three core strategies: modularity, material innovation and legacy thinking.
Modular design is essential. Instead of bespoke structures that fit only one specific event hall, brands should invest in systems that can be reconfigured. For example, aluminium frame systems and architectural cardboard structures offer high impact visual appeal with exceptionally low embodied carbon footprints and high reusability. This shift transforms the stand from an annual expenditure into a reusable asset.
Secondly, materials innovation is rapidly advancing. Designers now have access to a rich library of genuinely circular materials, including fabrics made from recycled ocean plastic, structural elements crafted from mycelium and repurposed theatre props. Choosing these over virgin plastic, wood or metal is a non-negotiable foundation for any responsible exhibition program.
Finally, we must apply legacy thinking to events; an event should be designed to leave a positive trace. Could the money spent on a throwaway structure instead fund a local community project? Could the exhibition furniture be donated to a school after the show closes? Could the stand itself be designed to have a second life as permanent office infrastructure?
By asking these questions, marketers transition from being consumers of space and materials to being creators of lasting value.
There is a solution that can help marketing departments align their substantial spending with company-wide environmental goals. The Tradeshow Impact Manager, or tim, is the first dedicated ESG reporting tool built specifically for exhibitions. It empowers global brands to fully measure, report, and improve the environmental, social, and governance performance of their trade show activities. Created and run by PIE Factory.
Trade shows can remain powerful marketing tools, but only if the industry embraces the shift from unsustainable volume to sustainable purpose. The opportunity is clear: brands that lead this transition will establish a powerful, authentic competitive edge in their audience’s eyes.
