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IMU Group, Mexico City, Mexico City, Mexico: School contest, "Our planet is the deal" IMU Recycle program initiative.

Company: IMU Group
Nomination Submitted by: Eje Comunicación
Company Description: IMU Group is a mexican company that leads OOH (Out of Home) advertising in Mexico, with two decades of experience and the best coverage around the country. It has a presence with approximately 15 thousand advertisement spaces in airports, streets and malls. One of the company's commitments with the society is to help every community where it operates to develop better cities.
Nomination Category: Sustainability Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sustainability Initiative of the Year - in Mexico, the Caribbean & Central and South America
2024 Stevie Winner Nomination Title: School contest, “Our planet is the deal” IMU Recycle program initiative.
  1. Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated organization since 1 January 2022, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
    Written answers to the questions
  2. If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.

     

  3. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated organization: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):

    Total 198 words used.

    Grupo IMU is a leading Mexican company in OOH (Out of Home) advertising in Mexico, with two decades of experience and nationwide coverage. It has a presence with approximately 15 thousand advertising spaces in airports, streets and shopping centers.

    With the purpose of making better cities, Grupo IMU decided to contribute to the responsible management of used batteries in Mexico, since according to the Latin American Battery Association (Alpiba), 780 million batteries are discarded in the country every year, causing environmental problems derived from an incorrect disposition. 

    Faced with this problem, for 15 years, the company has installed advertising columns in the streets with spaces to recover used batteries so that citizens can dispose of them correctly.

    This is how IMU Recicla was born, the largest open used battery recycling program in Latin America, which consists of 400 collection columns, and has managed to collect more than 1,300 tons of this waste, preventing it from contaminating the air, the land and the seas.

    And it is under this program that, in 2007, the company designed the “Our planet is the deal” School Contest, in which children from schools participated with the aim of contributing to environmental education.

  4. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

    Total 249 words used.

    There is an undeniable impact on the environment however new generations have a greater sense of caring for the planet. Thus, Grupo IMU seeks to enhance this commitment and amplify it through the School Contest “Our planet is the deal”, which is aimed at children of basic education in some cities of the country, so that they can collect used batteries together with its school community (directors, teachers and parents) and thus, the school collecting the largest amount of this waste will be rewarded with computers and trees.

    The Eje Comunicación agency, carried out all the communication of this contest and the IMU Recicla program, in addition managed the strategic alliance with the startup Ecolana, one of the main recycling experts in Mexico. 

    The central message of this initiative is the importance of proper management of used batteries, since a single used and improperly discarded alkaline battery can contaminate 160 thousand liters of water. To encourage interest and participation, diverse actions were implementes focused on having permanent contact with the schools, through sending graphic material, the development of informative & educational talks given together with its partner Ecolana in order to teach how to manage used batteries. 

    In this fifteenth edition, (October 2023 to March 2024), more than 27 thousand students from 57 basic level schools in three cities participated, who collected more than eight tons of used batteries, thus avoiding the contamination of about 500 billion liters of water, which is equivalent to approximately 167 Olympic swimming pools.

  5. If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):

    Total 208 words used.

    The “Our Planet is the deal” contest, of IMU Recicla program, in addition to being unique in Latin America, and achieving results that positively impact the protection of the planet, turns each student into an ambassador of the program and the contest, reaching more than 27 thousand homes in Mexico. 

    In this edition, all records were broken again: both in participation, with 3,490 additional students, as well as with an 18% increase in enrolled schools, which resulted in nearly a ton more batteries collected compared to the previous year, demonstrating that the contest increases its impact on society.

    The media coverage gave a new twist to the information, within the strategy, in addition to considering the main media outlets in the country, also considered media for children. Thanks to this, 122 publications were achieved in national media, 2 mentions in opinion columns, in two of the most relevant national media with the greatest impact in Mexico, and 2 radio interviews (one at the national level and the other in Guadalajara, one of the cities where the contest took place). With these impacts, it was possible to reach more than 15.3 million people in audience and an advertising equivalence of nearly four million 500 thousand Mexican pesos.

  6. You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):

    Total 247 words used.

    The success of the contest, laid on all the detailed activities developed alongside the preparation and dissemination of the call with the contact of schools, talks, and all the sensibilization of the proper disposal of used batteries:

    Call activities:

    • Website Development for the 15th edition of the School Contest.
       
    • Registration form 
       
    • The poster publication at schools
       
    • Street campaign of the School Contest
       
    • MIDE (Interactive Museum of Economy) post 
       
    • Students’ shared videos from Queen Elizabeth School and José Vasconcelos School 

    Dissemination activities:

    • Production of Ecolana/IMU video invitation

    • National and local radio interviews with IMU managers. 

    • Publication of privileged information in the Al Mando column of Jaime Núñez at Heraldo de México national newspaper.

    Transparency is essential to generate trust within the schools, therefore, at the end of the competition, the IMU Logistics team arrives at each school and in the presence of the institution's authorities, they weigh the collected material, take photographs to document the process and attest to the amounts recorded:

    Finally, a virtual ceremony is held to announce all the winners and an in-person awards ceremony in Mexico City:

    • Carrying out a virtual award to the 2 winning schools from Guadalajara, Jalisco, and 2 from Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo.

    • Carrying out in-person awards at the winning schools in Mexico City: Colegio Olami ORT and Colegio Simón Bolívar.

    • Monitoring of delivery of computers to schools in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo.

    • Monitoring of delivery of 35 trees at Olami ORT School and Simón Bolívar School.

Attachments/Videos/Links:
School contest, “Our planet is the deal” IMU Recycle program initiative.
MP4 [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]