Advancing progress across the travel industry
The challenge
With a new CEO and sustainability team in place, Sabre kicked off its big plans to lead change across the industry with a bold ESG mission: to enable responsible travel choices for all while driving global movement towards sustainable travel. The company set out to develop a strategy that puts sustainability at Sabre’s core, building a completely new approach that would reach and resonate with its key audiences.
Charting a new course
The solution
First, we set out to define Sabre’s ambition level, identify their most material sustainability topics and review existing goals and KPIs to uncover gaps. Through desk-based research, workshops and one-to-one interviews with key internal stakeholders, we refined Sabre’s strategy and helped set clear goals for each pillar.
Next, we developed a compelling messaging framework and a distinct visual identity to bring Travel Positive to life, aligning with and elevating Sabre’s existing brand. Using these strategic outputs, our next task was to create an employee engagement programme that would bring their global workforce of over 7,500 people on board with Sabre’s strategy while informing them on key sustainability topics and ways they could get involved.
Driving engagement and behaviour change
The result
Grounding the programme in behaviour change principles, we mapped out a campaign that would introduce and embed Sabre’s sustainability positioning among its employees, meeting them where they are across internal touchpoints, incentivising participation and reducing barriers to getting involved. We surveyed and interviewed the worldwide team to ensure our recommendations were grounded in co-creation and local relevancy.
The campaign hinged on the concept of a Travel Positive digital passport, offering collectable stamps for every programme element completed. Through methods including nudges, gamification, competition and rewards, team members were encouraged to engage in the programme and learn more about how sustainability interacts with their lives, both at work and beyond. Leveraging existing digital platforms to simplify participation for employees, the campaign was supplemented by webinars, training materials and digital assets to build awareness, understanding and buy-in.
Flag also helped launch the new programme externally, creating inspiring content for use across Sabre’s digital estate and facilitating a media launch event as part of Climate Week NYC. In tandem, we created Sabre’s 2024 Sustainability Report, showcasing the company’s commitment to impactful practices and industry-wide change. The report, aligned with Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) standards, details Sabre’s Travel Positive strategy focused on People, Planet and Prosperity. It highlights AI-driven solutions, emphasises strategic partnerships with Google and Travalyst, and ensures robust ESG reporting through the cloud-based Workiva platform. In 2024, the report and communications was shortlisted for the edie Award for Sustainability Reporting and Communications Project of the Year.
The internal Travel Positive programme is a crucial step in driving engagement across Sabre’s global workforce and embedding sustainability into the company culture. We’re continuing to support Sabre as they enter the next phase of driving industry impact through Travel Positive.
