Helping thousands understand strategy and support clients

The Situation

CBRE UK had set ambitious net zero targets and recognised that colleagues across the business needed to understand sustainability and feel confident discussing it with clients.

This wasn't simply about internal awareness. Many of CBRE's emissions sat within its value chain, meaning operational teams and client-facing colleagues had an important role to play in helping customers decarbonise their real estate.

The challenge was scale.

The sustainability team was relatively small, but needed to reach over 3,500 colleagues working across thousands of sites. Traditional training alone would not create the engagement or momentum required.

What they did

CBRE became one of Stickerbook's earliest pilot partners following its spin-out from Cambridge Enterprise.

The team adopted a hybrid approach.

They used Stickerbook's expert-led content library to cover broad sustainability topics, whilst creating over 20 bespoke CBRE stickers with internal subject matter experts and employee networks including All Greens and the Ability Network.

Popular topics included:

• Net Zero at CBRE

• How to get involved in sustainability

• Responding to client questions and RFPs

• The built environment and carbon emissions

• How CBRE helps clients decarbonise

• Personal sustainability actions

Each expert typically spent around one hour creating their own sticker, making it possible to capture and share knowledge quickly without creating additional pressure on busy teams.

The programme launched during Green Week through a company-wide town hall, generating over 500 sign-ups in the first week alone.

CBRE also used Stickerbook's Ambassador programme to identify enthusiastic volunteers across departments. These ambassadors helped raise awareness and create bespoke learning journeys tailored to the needs of their teams and clients.

What happened next

The response exceeded expectations.

Within the first year, almost half of the UK business had engaged with Stickerbook. By year three, this had grown to around 80% of the UK business, creating a highly engaged audience for new initiatives, campaigns and strategy updates.

Colleagues actively recommended the platform to both peers and clients, with Stickerbook frequently being used as an example of innovation during client pitches.

What began as a UK pilot expanded into Continental Europe and Asia Pacific by the end of year two, ultimately reaching colleagues across more than 30 countries.

The platform's analytics also helped uncover topics people wanted to explore in more depth.

For example, strong engagement with a GRESB 101 sticker highlighted significant interest in the topic. CBRE responded by organising a GRESB 102 lunch-and-learn webinar, attracting over 150 attendees to a highly technical session.

The programme received multiple awards recognising employee engagement, behaviour change, communication and sustainability, including:

• edie Sustainability Leaders Awards

• Corporate Engagement Awards

• Global Good Awards

• Green Apple Awards

Senior leaders also became advocates.

Former CBRE UK CEO Ciaran Bird commented:

"Whilst a Stickerbook might sound cheesy, let me tell you it is brilliant! I have spent a couple of hours enjoying listening to short, sharp videos that have educated me in ESG."

Key Stats and Impact

⚡ 48x increase in sustainability learning — now entirely voluntary

🌍 Expanded from the UK to more than 30 countries

🔁 Over 10,000 voluntary sticker collections

❤️ 98% felt more involved and engaged in sustainability initiatives

💬 8 in 10 colleagues felt more confident discussing sustainability with clients

👥 More than one-third of the business joined the Green Network

😊 79% felt more satisfied working at CBRE because they felt more involved and connected

🎥 Over 60 bespoke stickers created covering strategy, services, employee initiatives and client FAQs

‍

"Stickerbook was the perfect platform to communicate our strategy, services, and key messages in a simple and engaging format, whilst giving us clear visibility into what was landing.

Within 12 months, we saw a 48x increase in engagement and 8 in 10 users felt more confident discussing sustainability with clients.

Sticker challenges and local ambassadors created genuine momentum across teams and drove organic growth.

The programme went on to win multiple awards for engagement, behaviour change, communication and learning. More importantly, because colleagues felt more informed and involved in the issues they cared about, 79% said Stickerbook made them feel more satisfied working at CBRE."

Director, Communication & Engagement, CBRE