We live and breathe marketing to education at Buzz and making a difference to young people’s lives is what fuels us. But our passion for inspiring positive change isn’t just limited to the education setting.  

As a growing SME in the hustle and bustle of Chorley town centre, we care about giving back to our local community and making sure our day-to-day operations are as sustainable as possible.  

It was our passion for supporting people and the planet that spurred us to create something that extended beyond our day-to-day marketing activities – Buzz Does. Our action plan or, in more official lingo, our long-term strategy to fulfil and exceed our environmental and social obligations as a business.  

We wanted to make sure our ambitious goals to inspire positive change didn’t just remain on scribbled notes and forgettable to-do lists, so we decided to create a clear, actionable strategy. 

It started out as an environmental strategy, so here’s a short (ish) and sweet overview of how Buzz Does started. 

April 2022

• I sat down with a couple of our team members to discuss our environmental impact as a business. We were keen to reduce our carbon footprint but we weren’t sure where to begin or how to go about it.  
  
• I was thrilled to have Kate, one of our Campaign Strategists, accompany me on my mission, (and we’ve been in charge of our Buzz Does strategy over the last year).

July 2022

• After many hours of brainstorming and discussions with the wider team, we decided to put pen to paper and compile all our innovative ideas into one pretty lengthy Google doc labelled ‘Buzz green ideas’ (innovative title, right?).
  
• Kate and I then shortlisted our ideas and developed a detailed presentation of sustainable solutions we could implement.  

September 2022

• We needed a name that encompassed the breadth of our project, so we got the whole team involved to see what ideas they could come up with.
  
  Buzz Beyond, Buzz Action, Buzz Impact were just a few of the many ideas suggested, and of course, Buzz Does.
  
  In September 2022, after a majority vote, Buzz Does was chosen as the official title of our strategy.  

• We discovered the Eco-I North West Programme,  a £14 million research project part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to help SMEs lower their carbon footprint. Keen to kickstart our sustainability strategy, I decided to research the programme to see if it could support us. 

October 2022

• We confirmed we wanted to participate in the Eco-I NW Programme, so I started to contact a couple of the partner universities to decide who would be the best fit for us. 

• We discovered Reed’s Refillery, our local zero-waste shop in Chorley. We started stocking up on hand soaps, recycled kitchen roll and other sustainable products. 

• To demonstrate my commitment to helping us operate more sustainably, I was delighted to expand my position to Copywriter & Sustainability Lead.  

February 2023 

• We invited Adam, Industrial Liaison Manager at the University of Liverpool, and Katy, our Project Researcher to visit our office in Chorley. Katy conducted an on-site review of our office equipment and technology, gathering information to inform her report. She also sat down with our team members to better understand the software and systems we use on a day-to-day basis. 

May 2023 

• Myself, Izzy and Kate were delighted to attend the Eco-Innovation North West Awards at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. The event celebrated all the SMEs and researchers involved in the Eco-I NW programme.  

July 2023

• We received the first draft of our Clean Growth Project report.
  
• We were excited to invite Adam and Katy back to our office to discuss their ideas and recommendations.   

August 2023 

• We received our final Clean Growth Project report with detailed descriptions, recommendations and advice on how we could reduce our carbon footprint.
• Our researcher also provided a Carbon Calculation Worksheet with information on how to calculate our carbon output. And in addition to our report and worksheet, Katy also provided an in-depth document with answers to any additional questions we had.  

October 2023 

• Through participating in the Eco-I NW programme, we now have a strong foundation for our environmental strategy.  
• Last week marked 1 whole year of Buzz Does, and I’m really proud and excited to see the progress we’ve made so far. Although initially an environmental strategy, Buzz Does is now a multifaceted strategy designed to help us maximise our wider impact. 
  
• We’ve expanded Buzz Does so that it now incorporates the following pillars: Buzz Does Sustainability, Buzz Does Community, Buzz Does Culture and Buzz Does Wellbeing.