--- title: "Africa Travel Week: The tote bag heard around the industry" description: "Culture Cartel designed the #ChangeMatters campaign for Africa Travel Week in Cape Town, built around a custom tote bag against single-use plastic." canonical: https://www.culturecartel.ca/work/africa-travel-week language: en-CA publisher: Culture Cartel --- Africa Travel Week # Africa Travel Week The tote bag heard around the industry. - **Client:** Africa Travel Week - **Format:** Live - **Industry:** [Tourism and Events](https://www.culturecartel.ca/industries/events-and-entertainment-marketing) - **Location:** Cape Town, South Africa - **Year:** 2022 ![Person carrying a white canvas tote printed with #CHANGEMATTERS](https://www.culturecartel.ca/media/w/f79f2c_b02638a4fb4c452f-2000.webp) Services - Campaigns - Social - Brand activations - Trade shows Practice - [Campaigns & Content](https://www.culturecartel.ca/services#campaigns-and-content) - [Experiences](https://www.culturecartel.ca/live) [Start a project like this](https://www.culturecartel.ca/start?service=campaigns-and-content&ref=africa-travel-week) ## The brief Africa Travel Week (ATW) is the continent’s premier platform for responsible tourism. Culture Cartel was asked to turn its sustainability mission into something physical. We designed and ran the #ChangeMatters campaign, centred on a tote bag engineered from scratch. The bag was the campaign. ## The insight At a trade event this size, a sustainability message is just more noise unless people can hold it. A brochure gets binned. A good bag gets used for years. So the answer was not to talk about single-use plastic. It was to hand every attendee the alternative, and make it something they would actually want to carry. Sustainability stops being a buzzword the moment it becomes useful. ## The work ### Product design A premium, durable tote bag designed from the ground up, in direct opposition to single-use plastic. ### The #ChangeMatters narrative A punchy, hashtag-led campaign that gave attendees a reason to share the message on social, taking it well beyond the event floor. ### A family of messages More than one bag, more than one voice. Variants such as “I Am Not Plastic” gave the campaign range while keeping the same look, so the idea felt like a movement rather than a single slogan. ### Visual advocacy Bold, high-contrast design that made the message unmissable on the floor and turned every attendee into a walking billboard for plastic-free oceans and responsible travel. ## The result Not a giveaway. A statement people carried. Every bag on a shoulder was a conversation started. The tote put ocean plastic and sustainability on the agenda in a way attendees could see, use and share, and it shifted the conversation across the travel industry. Project highlights ![Presentation page showing the tote bag worn over the shoulder](https://www.culturecartel.ca/media/w/f79f2c_036f208d9083405f-2000.webp) 01 / Presentation page showing the tote bag worn over the shoulder ![Side view of the #CHANGEMATTERS tote on a grey background](https://www.culturecartel.ca/media/w/f79f2c_277d4d1972e34c20-1200.webp) 02 / Side view of the #CHANGEMATTERS tote on a grey background ![Close-up of the tote bag print and Africa Travel Week badge](https://www.culturecartel.ca/media/w/f79f2c_23c070dcfa7448bd-1200.webp) 03 / Close-up of the tote bag print and Africa Travel Week badge ![Three tote bag designs including an I Am Not Plastic variant](https://www.culturecartel.ca/media/w/f79f2c_f7252016eb5b457a-2000.webp) 04 / Three tote bag designs including an I Am Not Plastic variant Results described qualitatively. ## Start a project like this. Ideas that travel, made at the speed culture moves. Tell us where you are and where you need to be. [Start a Project](https://www.culturecartel.ca/start?service=campaigns-and-content&ref=africa-travel-week) [Ask about this project](https://www.culturecartel.ca/lens?mode=ask&ref=africa-travel-week) Related work - [LGA](https://www.culturecartel.ca/work/lga): A luxury golf brand with its own lane and the same address. · Brand / Sport Tourism and Events / South Africa / 2019 - [Decorex 25](https://www.culturecartel.ca/work/decorex-25): A 25th anniversary turned from milestone into movement. · Live / Events and Design / Johannesburg / 2025 [Next project LGA A luxury golf brand with its own lane and the same address. Keep scrolling](https://www.culturecartel.ca/work/lga) --- Culture Cartel, 8 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON M5E 0A6. info@culturecartel.ca, +1 647 459 2154. Start a project: https://www.culturecartel.ca/start