Refinery creates Akzo Nobel Sustainability Studio

Global paint and coatings company Akzo Nobel has opened a ground-breaking 'Sustainability Studio' in Slough to help communicate a wide range of complex environmental messages to its key stakeholders, including customers and suppliers.

His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, officially opened the  ‘Sustainability Studio', for the global coatings company, which owns well-known DIY brands such as Dulux, Cuprinol, Hammerite and Polycell.

The Studio was created by Manchester-based agency Refinery Marketing Communications and aims uses interactive engagement to simplify the environmental issues at the heart of the company.

The  Studio incorporates a ‘living wall’, which promotes the benefits of biophilia, (the positive impact that plants have on the environment), an exhibition and teamwork area. The studio is an accessory to AzkoNobel’s Planet Possible initiative, which focuses on the planet’s capability of sustaining the growing population. The strategy aims to work with customers and suppliers to open up solutions to ‘doing more with less’ and promoting the planet’s sustainability and efficiency.

Environmentally friendly products were used throughout the making of the studio, the design focusing on graphics aimed at further engaging audiences.

Life-size games are also included, specially commissioned giant Connect-4 games and 3D puzzles which educate and inform visitors to the studio.

Philip Armitage, a director at Refinery, said: “Our idea was to employ experiential marketing techniques to tell AkzoNobel’s sustainability story in a manner that key stakeholders would find more engaging. We transformed a simple office space into an exciting, interactive studio, where complex messages could be easily communicated through fun, playful activities, whilst still operating as an effective workspace.”

Source: Naomi Taylor - The Drum.

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