HERE Technologies is a location data technology company, providing mapping solutions and related automotive services to individuals and companies.
In 2026, HERE secured a prime CES location and invited their automotive partners into the experience, raising the bar for design, operations and brand storytelling.
The brief demanded a high-profile CES presence that demonstrated technology leadership and operational responsibility. We determined that the best way to demonstrate these themes was through a design approach that applies that same thinking to sustainability in events. Because sustainability is a core pillar for HERE, a company that prides themselves on reducing emissions by offering efficient location solutions that limit time in transit.
Our challenge was to avoid bolting on “green” features and reframed the assignment around a sustainable event system: re-think the lifecycle, then re-build the experience to behave like a reusable product, not a disposable one. Success meant a premium environment with measurably lower footprint and lower cost per sqm, enabled by modularity, rental economies and minimized logistics.
KPIs:
-Cut embodied/operational impacts through lightweighting, reuse, rental, donation and localized production.
-Reduce total cost intensity via standardization and systemization.
-Produce credible, transparent results suitable for third-party scrutiny and media coverage
The event industry creates tonnes of waste annually, and 75% of materials recorded in TRACE are often from virgin sources or brand new. (Source: isla. Temperature Check Europe 2025).
This focus on single-use materials is not only wasteful, but inefficient because it means companies are starting from scratch far too often.
This inspired us to design our most efficient and sustainable booth yet, and the process was inspired by our insight: If you design end-of-life first, every upstream choice gets simpler, lighter and cheaper. Start at the end.
Our creative approach, Start at the End, entailed re-thinking and redesigning the experience’s afterlife—then re-building the form to serve it. Meaning, we worked backwards by treating the booth as a kit-of-parts and identified the most sustainable disposal plan we could imagine. Then we redesigned the booth to best-fit that process.
The systemized structure allowed lightweighting without compromising presence, while standardized panels reduced offcuts and slotted back into inventory. Rentals replaced purchases; legacy glass and logos were stored and redeployed; soft goods were earmarked for donation to local textile education facilities; and subfloor wood was rented for circular reuse. Localized sourcing trimmed transport and handling. The booth looked and felt premium, yet behaved like a durable asset with multiple future lives.
Sustainable event process
Dual win, one system.
The project delivered a 20% estimated reduction in carbon footprint and 21% reduction in cost, proving that reducing impact and reducing cost per sqm go hand-in-hand when you re-think and re-build around end-of-life. This approach now forms HERE’s repeatable template for future activations—compounding environmental and economic returns over time. It also informs how we approach our environmental design and exhibit builds to limit our overall impact on the environment.
HERE’s global brand lead Benjamin Arditti, captured the philosophy succinctly: “It’s not about showing sustainability, it’s about being sustainable.”
