the civitas initiative is co-financed by the european union “communicating with the citizen”...

THE CIVITAS INITIATIVE IS CO-FINANCED

BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

“Communicating with the Citizen”

VANGUARD/MIMOSA Training Workshop

Leuven

8-9 February 2010



DAY ONE



Welcome to the Flanders Region… home of marketeers for sustainable urban transport!

1. Saskia Schatteman, Marketeer of the year 2008

3. Wim Van Hees, veteran marketeer stopped €4 billion bridge project

2. Red de Stoep, smart marketing for smart use of sidewalks



By popular demand!

LDM PDM



The VANGUARD training offer

Date Location Cluster & Theme

2009 November 18-19 Ghent Cluster 1: Stakeholder consultation

2010 February 8-9 Leuven Cluster 1: Marketing and branding

2010 September Szentendre Cluster 2: city sector/corridor approach

2011 January Brussels Cluster 3: Soft measures in mobility management

2011 March Brussels Cluster 1: Social marketing in Mobility Management

2011 September Szentendre Cluster 2: integrated “vehicle-infrastructure-user” approach

2012 January Szentendre Cluster 3: Target group related measures/ Travel training for specific user categories & cultural differences

2012 March Brussels Cluster 1: Evaluation, monitoring, legacy and exploitation

2012 September CIVITAS Plus City Cluster 2: Legacy: from experiment to mainstream measure

2013 January Szentendre Cluster 3: Social inclusion in urban transport



What did we learn in the first training?

• City = central coordinator, initiator of mobility services

• Costumer care comes with this role (and so does marketing and branding!)

• Get the objectives right

• Know your audience: analysis of target groups is essential

• Smart choice of tools and methods

• Make things real (visualise, show realistic solutions)

• Smart use of external expertise



Agenda: Day 1

• Communications Overview

• Defining Your Target Audience

• --> Spotlight On: Aalborg, DK (ARCHIMEDES)

• Message Development

• Analysing, Creating and Defining Brands

• --> Spotlight On: Perugia, IT (RENAISSANCE)

• Museum Tour



Agenda: Day 2

• Direct-to-Consumer Communication: Promotional Products and “Branded” Materials

• Events: Successful Event Organisation

• --> Spotlight On: Zagreb, HR (ELAN)

• Media Relations: How it works, Making it Happen

• --> Spotlight On: Gent, BE (ELAN)

• Social Media and Web 2.0 Techniques

• Group Exercise: Creating and Selling-in a News Story --> Mobility Week 2010



Training Team

• Rachel Barnett, EUROCITIES

• Amy Johnson, Mostra

• Caroline Maertens, Mostra

• Kostas Mastakas, Mostra

• John Porter, MIMOSA

• Greg Spencer, REC

• Peter Staelens, EUROCITIES

• Colombe Warin, Mostra

Special thanks to:

Lucia Cristea (Perugia)

Patty Delanghe (Gent)

Gustav Friis (Aalborg)

Lidija Pavic-Rogosic (Zagreb)



Awareness-raising, Dissemination and Communication Strategy

• Developed throughout 2009

• Finalised in November 2009

• Serves as the overall communications strategy for CIVITAS



KOSTAS: OK?

Dissemination of “CIVITAS”

Communicating with the consumer (Awareness raising among citizens)



Our Focus for this Workshop:

Communicating with the consumer (Awareness raising among citizens)



Communications OverviewThe Essentials



What is Consumer Communication?

Positioning and promoting a product, service or issue

to a potential customer or citizen. Consumer

communication is aimed at individuals, not

organisations, and promotes the product or service

directly to the end-user.



Why the CITIZEN?

• In the kingdom of consumption… “Citizen is King.”

• Citizens are the ultimate target group of clean urban transport measures

• And: the European Union co-finances CIVITAS measures



Communications OverviewCommunicating about Sustainability



“Sustainable”/“Sustainability”in the News

Source: Google news archive

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.



Today’s Media Environment



Today’s Media Environment

Your competition is fierce!



EXERCISE: News Review



Creating a Communications Plan

1.Define your objectives.

2.Determine your audience.

3.Create your messages.

4.Select your tools and channels.

5.Plan and activate your programme.

6.Evaluate success and share info.



1. Define your objectives

• Specifying your communications objective(s) is not always obvious, and usually not an easy task

• Communication objectives are not the same as your overall programme (or overall measure) objectives

• Can you define why you promote and raise-awareness of your individual measures?



Developing SMART Objectives

• Specific: What is the end game? Are outcomes and audiences clearly identified?

• Measurable: Will we be able to tell whether it worked?

• Attainable: Is it reasonable to expect that the proposed strategies will help us attain the desired end result?

• Realistic: Is it realistic to expect that the plan can be implemented given existing capacity limitations?

• Timely: What is the implementation timetable? Is it doable?



This nation should commit

itself to achieving this goal, before

the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and

returning him safely to earth.

J.F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961



2. Determine Your Target Audience



Identifying target audiences: Who? Where? Why?

• What are they interested in?

• What media do they read, listen to or watch?

• Can they be influenced?

• Will our news interest them?

• Is our announcement newsworthy? Will the media be interested?



Dissect your “who”

EVENT 2

After-dinner speech at a regional chamber of commerce event in

southern Spain

EVENT 1

Keynote speech at an annual international

urban mobility conference in Brussels



Who is your “who”?

• Identify links between attitudes and behaviours

• For more, see “Making Campaigning for Smarter Choices Work” (UK Department for Transportation/ TAPESTRY project)



EXERCISE: Mapping your target audiences



Step I

List all the target audiences

that are relevant to your city’s project.



Step II



SPOTLIGHT ON: Aalborg, DK (ARCHIMEDES)

Target Audiences

Commuter Route for Cyclists

Gustav Friis, City of Aalborg



The first high-quality commuter route for cyclists

- 5 kilometres long

- 1,000-2,000 cyclists every day

- Main route for students

- Inauguration of the route in autumn 2010.

Main targeted issues:

- Free Flow

- Safety

- Visibility UniversityUniversity

City CentreCity Centre



Cycle Motorway Workshop September 28, 2009

1) Start and Ends + Overall concept

2) Bonnesensgade + Samsøgade: City stretches

3) Hadsundvej – from Riishøjsvej to Humlebakken: Intersections

4) Hadsundvej – from Humlebakken to Motorvejen: The Hill



Target Audience

• The participants represented a broad range of groups engaged in bicycle matters, from the students that bike to the university on a daily basis to the traffic police

Technicians from the municipality to identify technical solutions and to increase ownership of the project in the organisation

End users from Aalborg University and the Danish Cycling Association to identify problems and solutions

Community groups to identify demographics and geography of the communities along the route

The police to identify any legislative challenges and possibilities in the planning of the route.



How it looked



Conclusions

• Creativity and engagement were the goals as Aalborg invited selected stakeholders to have a say in choosing which initiatives will be developed for the cycle motorway.

• The purpose of the workshop was to develop new ideas for the stretch and to get the input of bicycle user on existing ideas for the stretch

• The participants represented a broad range of groups engaged in bicycle matters; from the students that bike to the university on a daily basis to the traffic police. The ideas were tested because of the variety of the participants.

• The engaging discussions during the workshop resulted in the development of several new ideas for the cycle motorway. In addition, the participants had valuable inputs to the improvement of some of the initiatives already discussed for the cycle motorway.



3. Message Development



Message Development

Where to begin? Ask yourself:

• Who are your target audience groups?

• What is the purpose of your city’s measures?

• Why is it interesting?

• What’s new, or different?

• Why should people care?



Messaging Essentials

• Demystify “sustainable urban mobility”

• What do you want them to remember?

• Define it in one or two sentences

• Clear and compact

• Supporting data/evidence that links to the message

• Repeat your message to boost retention



What is a “proof point”?

• Also known as a “core indicator”

• Substantiates your message

• Gives credence to your statements

• How can you express your measure’s benefits to the citizen in terms that validate? Consider:

– Credentials/ certifications

– Years of experience

– Passenger retention/ growth rates

– Number of satisfied users

– Other ideas?



“Our chairs will make your television watching experience more comfortable.”

• Proof point: 17 styles available.

• Proof point: All models have up to 15 settings to adjust your comfort.

• Proof point: All models have the option for a built-in cup holder.



Tailor messages for your audiences

• Consider using an audience/ message matrix



Defining Messages: Audience/ Message Matrix

• List your priority target audiences.

• What do they already know (or think) about your city’s project/ your sustainable mobility measure?

• What do you want them to know?

• How can you prove your point?



Target Audience Current mindset Desired mindset Key message Proof point(s)



Messaging Essentials

• Repeat, repeat, repeat



BRANDING Analysing and Creating Brands



Following 3 slides for a bit of fun



Changing Attitudes TowardsChanging Attitudes Towards

Soap & Washing! Soap & Washing!



Soap in 1884!

Product characteristics

• Grey

• Unreliable

• Drab paper wrapping

• Hard to use

• Didn’t last

• Inconsistent



Branding (Lever Brothers)

The idea of branding emerged in late 19th century.

No mention of cleaning!



Role of the Brand in Communications

Filter

Values

Values

Values

Values

Values

Values

Audiences

Audiences

Audiences

Conversation

Psycho-social process



Brand definition

– Aim different products at different groups of people

– Differences between the products may be negligible,

• individual names • packaging • promoted separately - appropriate to each target

audience

– Strength of the brand

• powerful and emotional symbolism aimed at a specific market

– Giving everyday products and services special characteristics through imaginative use of name, packaging and advertising.



Examples

• Brands communicate • physical attributes • emotional and aspirational values

• Commercial companies nurture their brands - they remain consistent and acquire great value.

• The same principles should be applied to Public Transport and Mobility Management initiatives.



Examples Dublin Bus brand differentiation

The 'cheeky' IMP - here there and everywhere, local, friendly, frequent, nippy, Young, female

The CitySwift, a serious commuting alternative, modern, clean, fast, frequent - Men can use this!

O p e ra tin g a sC ity S w if t B ra n d

O p e ra tin g a sC ity S w if t B ra n d w ith fu ll Q u a lity B u sC o rr id o r in fra s tru c tu re a n dc u s to m e r in fo rm a tio n .

R o u te 4 6 - P a sse n g e r n u m b e r s p e r y e a r (M illio n s )

4

5

6

7

8

9

1 0

1 1

1 2

1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 ( e s t ' d . )

Out with the old!



Branding Exercise

Please consider the following ‘Products.’ Take a handful of images and without thinking deeply place each image next to the label that feels right. Act on gut feeling. Not too much thinking. Work quickly. If an image does not fit any of the labels return it to the store.

• Express rail (Eurostar / TGV / Thalys)

• Local suburban rail

• Local Urban Bus

• Cycling

• CIVITAS

• How you would like your collaborative project/measure to be seen



Branding Exercise – some possible brand attributes

• Tone of voice

• Colour

• Gender

• Age

• Animal

• Shape

• Texture

• Emotion

• etc. – add more to suit your application



Draw the Brand Map

• Identify the main descriptive axes

• Position the ‘Products’

• Identify barriers to use

• Write a brand proposition for the Measures in your CP

– Personality

– Type of audience

– Colours

– ??



NICE BUT RISKYNICE BUT RISKY

TRADITIONAL PTTRADITIONAL PT

THE PLACE TO BE!THE PLACE TO BE!WALK/CYCLEWALK/CYCLE

LOCAL RAILLOCAL RAIL

LOCAL BUSLOCAL BUS

EXPRESS TRAINEXPRESS TRAIN

CARCAR

Brand Map from previous researchBrand Map from previous research

professional professional / credible/ credible

grumpygrumpy/miserable/miserable

brightbright

dulldull

femalefemale

livelylively

happyhappy

friendlyfriendly

youngyoung

activeactive

boringboring

passivepassiveoldold

in controlin control



Discussion on Branding

• Measure branding

• CIVITAS Co-branding



SPOTLIGHT ON: Perugia, IT (RENAISSANCE)

Branding

Lucia Cristea



Perugia

UMBRIA REGION

92 Municipalities

Inhabitants: 843.359

Surface area: 63.156 km2

MUNICIPALITY OF PERUGIA Inhabitants: aprox. 160.000

Surface area: 450 km2



Perugia



Why Branding?

• to raise the level of the awareness for the sustainable transport solutions

• to contribute to the public transport integration

• to improve the quality of the citizens’ life

• to increase the level of patronage for public transport

• to have a more efficient communication tool



Elements of Perugia’s Communication Strategy



EASY

INTERMODAL EXCHANGE NODES FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT

TRIP AVOIDANCE STRATEGY

IMPLEMENTATION OF CITYPARKING STRATEGY



SAFE

ASSESSING THE OPTIONS FOR MORE EFFICIENT PAVEMENT MARKINGS

ROAD SAFETY AND SECURITY TRAFFIC MONITORING/CONTROL CENTRE

SET UP OF THE MONITORING CONTROL CENTRE



CLEAN

CAR SHARING

RETROFITTING THE SERVICE CAR FLEET OF THE MUNICIPALITY

PIPENET

CLEAN FUEL TECHNOLOGY ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT FLEET

CAR POOLING



Actors involved – Stakeholders

Perugia Municipality

APM – bus operator

Minimetro – rail system operator

FCU – Regional Railway operator

FS – Italian Railway operator



Main stages of the project

To carry out the baseline research

To choose a company specialized in communication

To prepare the elements of the visual communication

To design the brand

To implement the brand

To evaluate the brand

To consolidate the brand

Brand management - continuous



Brand



Brand – different ways to be used



Costs

Short term- Initial research - Brand design- Stakeholder engagement

Long term- Brand implementation- Brand evaluation- Brand consolidation



Evaluation

Quantitative evaluation

On-street surveys: APM, Minimetro, MUPER (car drivers)brand recognitionbrand acceptance increased market share

Qualitative evaluationFocus groups InterviewsDiscussions



Lessons learnt ...till now

It is crucial the stakeholders’ involvement and

acceptance

Do your research first

Involve a specialized company for designing the

brand

Establish in a realistic way the time horizon for brand

implementation

Be sure that you have the budget

Be prepared to make internal changes



Thank you!

[email protected]@fitconsulting.it



Closing Remarks



CIVITAS VANGUARD

REC

Mobiel 21

POLIS

ICLEI

EUROCITIES

SENTER NOVEM

FGM-AMOR

MOSTRA

[email protected]: +36 26 504 046



Thank you

Konstantinos Mastakas

Mostra

Tel: +32 (0)2 537 44 00

E-mail: [email protected]

www.civitas.eu

the civitas initiative is co-financed by the european union “communicating with the citizen”...

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