Brands for Better ~ Event Photography for Zero-Waste Brand Battle

 
 

Brands for Better Foundation is a Vancouver-based not-for-profit and network of people and brands who are working towards a more sustainable planet.

Led by Karla Peckett (Sole/Recork), Scot Sustad (Digital Hot Sauce), and Theresa Rowsell (02E Brands), the two-day Brand Battle was set to go after 3 years in the making!

Over 100 brands from across Vancouver have been involved in creating Brands for Better, and they gathered over two days to ideate and battle it out over the Brand Battle theme: tackling zero-waste issues in the city.

Originally planned as an in-person event, it got switched up to a virtual event, with the in-person action, some keynote speakers and behind the SCENES taking place out of Clarks AV in East Vancouver, and participants, facilitators, singers, and other keynote speakers zooming in from behind their SCREENS.

A virtual event like this one has so many moving pieces to it, and it was an honour to work on this initiative over the past few years with so many energetic, smart and passionate people.

Doing event photography for a virtual event like this was totally different from an in-person event, and really fun. Behind the scenes wise: it was awesome to have some of the keynote speakers come into the studio and capture them and their energy in person, and the environment where they were speaking from. All the green screens that were transformed into a branded background via video…are there in the photos, but really I think it just creates the experience of what it’s like to be backstage at a virtual event which you’re not going to see from tuning in online. Having an in-studio band perform live was special, and the live muralist creating art over 2 days added something new to the space — a big blank canvas transformed into an epic piece of art. Behind the screens wise: capturing each of the break-out teams in their Zoom rooms helped to build out the extent of how many people were involved in the initiative. So many Zoom rooms! If you were in a Zoom room and don’t see yourself in the slideshow below connect with me to get the full gallery where you’ll find yourself.

So get your team together, gather round and enjoy the slideshow from the two day Brand Battle. Music on!

 

Seen yourself in a portrait or image that you love?

Contact me here and I’ll share the image with you.


 

What went down?

Day 1 ~ Pre-conference and educational workshops to arm the teams with everything they need to know about zero waste. Team ideation to come up with ideas for tangible zer0-waste solutions for Vancouver. Teams start to get those ideas shaped.

Keynote speakers on Day 1: Minto Roy (Sugar Sheet Paper), Adam Corneil (Unbuilders), Dr. Love Ese Chile (Regenerative Waste Labs), Tesicca Truong (CityHive Vancouver).

Live mural art by Jesse Gouchey of Maskwa Murals.

Event management by Connect Seven Group.

Day 2 ~ Strategy hack-a-thon where the 18 teams built out their ideas and put it together into a pitch. After all 18 teams put their ideas forwards to judges behind the scenes, the final THREE pitches went head to head in the evening, live in front of the audience and panel of judges.

Keynote speakers on Day 2: The Honourable Dr. Hedy Fry, Anthonia Ogundele (Ethos Lab), Felix Böck (ChopValue), Alexandra Karnig (DOconomy)

Pitch judges: Tim Reeve (Reeve Consulting), Dr. Love Ese Chile (Regenerative Waste Labs), Brian Scudamore (02E Brands), Jane Cox (Cause + Affect), Denise Taschereau (Fairware), Patty Jones (PS DDB)

The prize for the winning pitch an upcycled trophy from ChopValue, a $40k in-kind campaign strategy package from Ad Agency Title Partner PS DDB, and a $10k+ digital media package from Digital Media Title Partner DailyHive to bring the winning idea to life in Vancouver.

Winning pitch!

The awards night was kicked off by The Long War who did an awesome in-studio performance, and Emcee’d by Zain Meghji.

The winning pitch was won by team Talent Pool, led by Tentree co-founder Arthur Kononuk, won for their ‘EcoMeter’ concept encouraging Vancouver restaurants to reduce their waste. Inspired by New York City’s sanitary grades for its restaurants, EcoMeter is a grading system of a restaurant’s “foodprint,” measuring its sustainability practices.

EcoMeter is conceived as a voluntary program but it could gain the City of Vancouver support as it moves closer to being a zero-waste community.

Unique among the competing brand teams, the Talent Pool was composed of individual professionals representing several companies Clio, University of BC, Ciele Athletics, 10 fold furniture, Enchant Christmas and Student Sue Lee.

Congratulations to all the teams who took part and put their energy, expertise and heart into the two days!


Running your own event and want to document it? Get in touch here!

Want to learn more about photography content for your personal or business brand? Book in a complimentary call to talk about your needs here.