Bringing Sustainability To Signage

admin | 5 August 2021

Brand owners are highly aware of the importance of securing and maintaining brand loyalty. Ultimately it comes down to shared values that determines whether a customer will return.

And for brand consumers, a factor in that decision which has grown exponentially over the decade has been sustainability.

Consumers want to know the brands they buy are working to become more sustainable, and brands which invest time and money to provide a ‘green’ product or service attract attention. This is no vague assumption; Research by Deloitte found 64% of consumers pushing brand names to remove plastics and improve packaging. Sustainability is now a major reason for selecting one brand over another, and for retail businesses in particular can no longer afford to ignore this factor.

But introducing sustainable practices into business functions of a retailer can be complex, with no guarantee of success. Take signage as a highly visible example. Designing, and delivering new signage which incorporates new sustainable innovation is far from simple, especially for largescale, multi-store, multi-country rollouts. Some sustainable ideas do not make an economic case when scaled up across a large estate. They may be expensive, have a poor working life, be sensitive to seasonal changes or require major changes to premises to function correctly – or any combination of these and other factors.

Yet, to adapt to increasing demands by consumer to reduce their environmental impact, businesses need to rethink their approach to sustainability with their visual branding.

So, what comes next?

The signage design, production and installation specialists that make up Hexcite have been delivering sustainable solutions long before it became fashionable and a necessity. This is from a belief that the only way to drive change is to bring sustainability to signage one step at a time. By encouraging more organisations to incrementally increase their usage of sustainable materials will see costs fall over time making sustainability more affordable.

Here’s how they’ve been doing it…

Introducing Hexcite

Hexcite consists of three market-leading businesses in the visual branding solutions sector. Leaders in their own right, combined they become a unified service for the complete signage project. And with the introduction of innovative environmentally friendly solutions, brands large and small can enjoy new signage which actively lowers their carbon emissions.

The three businesses within Hexcite Holdings are:

Blaze – Look down any UK high street, in any town, and you’ll see retail signage designed and installed by Blaze Signs. From its facilities in Kent and the West Midlands. Blaze delivers impactful signage using sustainable, hard-wearing materials including wood, metal and recycled plastics.

Cygnia Maintenance – Renowned for its unrivalled signage services, maintenance and repair for retailers and property owners across the UK, Cygnia is a customer-focused operation with impressive levels of coverage. It also provides a consultancy service to help clients make their powered signage as energy efficient as possible.

Concept Signs – One of Europe’s leading visual communication experts, providing distinctive sign solutions through the use of traditional, bespoke and digital signage.

Target : 2025

In their drive to deliver sustainability in signage, Hexcite launched Target : 2025.

This mission will see Hexcite Holdings striving to achieve four highly ambitious sustainability goals by 2025:

  • Zero-to-landfill by the end of 2021
  • Global Sustainable Materials procurement processes by the end of 2022
  • A Circular Economy Business Model by 2023
  • A Carbon Neutral business by 2025

The Sustainability Showcase

With the topic of sustainability high on everyone’s agenda, Hexcite launched Target : 2025 at its offices in Stratford, London in July 2021.

A selected panel of expert speakers delved into the latest developments in sustainable retail practices, shared knowledge of sustainable materials and how working processes can deliver benefits across a broad range of projects, schemes and campaigns.

There was also topical insights into what sustainability means within different sectors and how to reduce the environmental impact of signage.