REPORT
4. ENGAGEMENT TRIALS 4.
ENGAGEMENT TRIALS
4.1
Objectives of Engagement Trials 1.
Northwest Regional Assembly review postcards with Youth Parliament
2.
Tyrer Sorrel to design and print direct mail packs and postcards. The following
will be added to the cards:
o Is recycling important
to you? Yes/No o Is your health important to you? Yes/No o
Why are they important to you? o What does sustainability
mean to you? (For an example of the direct mail
used please see 6.4 of the web link appendices) 3.
Tyrer Sorrel mail 400 freepost lead generator postcards along with a covering
letter to consumers with the following filters:
o
NW o Range of incomes o Voluntary
and community interests o Interest in wildlife and the
environment 4. Community Northwest mail 200 thank
you and summary letters with 2 postcards to Community Northwest contacts.
5. Tyrer Sorrel receive responses. Tyrer Sorrel follow
up 25 replies with “why did you respond?” evaluations. Tyrer Sorrel
follow up 25 non replies with “why did you not respond?” evaluations.
6. Tyrer Sorrel identify a core group of 3-5 young people
who will act as a film crew and a series of locations for filming. Tyrer Sorrel
image consent forms sent to groups and completed. “Crew” visits 5 other
groups including family, football and other community locations over a Friday
and Saturday. The crew will interview other young people and ask: o
What does sustainability mean to you? o What small change
can you make that will make a big difference? o What
do you care about? o How do we get the message across? o
What is right for a good quality of life? (Please
note: basic trademark check carried out for NWRA and shows can’t use “small
change, big difference” as text in any promotions). Whilst
the video is being filmed promo goodies may be distributed and adult participants
will be given one of a hundred postcards and encouraged to hit the AfS website.
7. Rough edit meeting with crew. 8.
A 10 minute video will be produced (master only). 9.
An evaluation report will be produced
4.2 Engagement
Trials and How They Relate to Key Demographics for “Hard to Reach” Individuals
(As Identified in the Focus Groups)
1. Physical and geographic -
Rural location in Cumbria (away from motorway) with transport limitations
2. Emotional - This is difficult to define but we have focussed (at the request
of NWRA AfS) on 16-24 year old students as a key segment of “Hard to Reach”
people based on their brand awareness and previous lack of involvement in sustainable
issues
3. Economic - Income range of £10-15K per annum was used as
a filter for consumer direct mail as this was one of the original key definers
of “Hard to Reach” individuals identified in the original project development
phase
4. Cultural - Ethnicity used as filter for direct mail
4.3
Engagement Trails Evaluation
Positive Outcomes The
engagement trials were particluarly successful in engaging local communities for
the following key reasons: Video
When the filming started the crew and director had no
real idea what sustainability was let alone how to ask others about it. As the
filming continued there was a real shift in understanding. At one point during
filming one of the young people actually (and enthusiastically) saw the link between
football and sustaining health themselves. It was at this point that we knew local
activity works and needs to be expanded. They had “just got it”. We
did not see the same change in understanding during teaching sessions or via direct
mail feedback. One key message at rough edit
stage from the film crew was that it is clear we need to break down sustainability
into smaller themes. Other key findings from
the video trial included the fact that local people trust local people, particularily
“their” young people. This made the development of trust much easier
and the project outcomes easier and quicker to achieve. The film crew expressed
a real feeling that we had activily engaged with them. We became part of their
community and by travelling to them and into such a rural location we showed that
we really cared about their issues. In turn it also gave us a real understanding
of their lives which in turn making it much easier to engage effectively in the
future. For example we would never have known that children leave straight from
school on one bus to get to their farms in a much wider geographic area. We made
an assumption living with wide public transport that children stay at town location
(or around it) for at least an hour. The reality was that a large proportion of
potential respondents disappeared immediately and made it more difficult to consult
in one focussed location. It was also clear from spontaneuos moments during filming
that the experience was more important than the film itself (to the film crew).
The filming was seen as an opportunity to visit their local city and to engage
in a fun activity. Direct Mail
9% response rate on one “cold” letter is excellent.
Direct mail gives us the potential to reach the scale needed for the North West.
Consumers are clearly keen to engage with sustainability particluarly if the first
approach is through a green issue. Key feedback
from the mini questionnaire: Money/investment
Caring for the planet
Greener/cleaner
Human survival/children’s
future
Social and environment
Life/future
No waste
Keeping
up level of something
The majority of respondents expressed a request not
to be contacted by telephone
Ethically correct
I want to live in a nice,
healthy place
Once something is begun it should continue (if it is beneficial)
The following is a breakdown of respondent profiles
available: Description
1. Consumer Direct
Mailing
2. Existing Particpants Mailing
3. General Community NW Mailing
Sex: (% of total returns per heading)
Male
1. 42
2. 33
3. 29
Female
1. 31
2. 56
3. 46
Unknown
1. 27
2. 11
3. 25
Location: (% of total returns per heading)
Cheshire
1. 28
2. 22
3. 25
Lancashire
1. 33
2. 22
3. 17
Merseyside
1. 25
2. 22
3. 33
Manchester
1. 6
2. 0
3. 4
Cumbria
1. 3
2. 33
3. 17
Unknown
1. 5
2. 1
3. 4
Totals: (number of letters)
Returned
1. 36
2. 9
3. 24
Sent
1. 400
2. 56
3. 400
Response rate
1. 9%
2. 16%
3. 6%
Other:
Goneaways
2%
Event responses
1%
Promos
We gave disposable cameras as a thank you gift to participants.
The cameras could have been branded as NWRA AfS to also increase awareness of
the brand. We also gave them out to experiment with getting back images of susatinability.
It was clear from responses that the promotional items worked best when given
with no strings attached as a thank you for involvement. Youth
Parliament Proofs of the direct mail postcards
were taken to another blind location with a different facilitator. The particpants
reinforced the messages we got from the focus groups. Theses were: - Need
a wealth of information
- Local face to face is best
to engage
- No spin, correct messages
and no gimmicks
- Why not write to us with a
formal letter not just with marketing leaflets
- Repeated
messages are important
Less Positive Outcomes
(General)
If is difficult to reflect on were
the enagement trials went wrong because we adapted to requests as they developed.
However for future work there may be lessons to learn from: - Timescales
that allow for changes to the programme. For example decisions such as ownership
of the mailing list were taken due to limited time
- One
or two key local people not being available. Again for example significant impact
was made to the logistics of the project due to quite normal problems with local
availability of key people. This needs to be allowed for in future timescales
- One focus only. Future projects need to have
one clear marketing focus. This will enable local people to have a clear engagment
purpose
- More time and involvement in promotional
events. Promotional events need to be managed directly for maximum impact.
- Visiting
the city event for a short period meant that potentially large numbers of people
were not reached
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