Are you doing your bit?
Richard Holliday
Non Executive Director, Development Executive: Commercial Advisor, Government and Stakeholder Relations.
As a Marketing Director in the early 2000’s, I was involved in developing a potential marketing campaign to address protecting our environment and at that time the United Kingdom had a cracker of a campaign, Are you Doing Your Bit!
I thought this campaign was a good place to start my research and I soon discovered there was not too much around in those days, however I did discover with delight, the It's a Living Thing campaign by the New South Wales Government. More about this later.
Are you doing your bit was one of the first environmental initiatives from the then new Labour Government in the United Kingdom and was created when the Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon John Prescott, was meeting other governments in the run up to Kyoto climate change negotiations in 1997.
His basic premise in requesting a campaign was that irrespective of whatever climate change targets were agreed internationally, they would not be achieved unless further action by business and individuals was stimulated.
The campaign was created by London based Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO a truly cutting edge outfit. (see link for campaign strategy)
The initial campaign was around seven million pounds but this grew to well over twenty million pounds over the period 1998-2002. A significant investment long before the Climate Change issue became a kitchen table discussion, yet alone defined governments and oppositions.
The campaign was simply brilliant and used several high profile UK entertainers delivering environmental messages with a hint of UK laughter and comedy. There were engaging, memorable and actionable. Today, I still use some of the key lines.
I have searched the www for the are you doing your bit television campaign but alas no luck, however I do have copies of all the collateral just to remind me how advance the thinking was in the late ninety's.
The campaign received a lot of attention receiving over 200 complaints to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority, “Some have argued that there is no scientific evidence of climate change; others claim there is a division of scientific opinion on this issue and therefore the advertisements should not have attributed global warming to human activity. Sound familiar? Another complaint was that the ad, which features a father telling his daughter a scary bedtime story about climate change, is inappropriate to be seen by children because it is "upsetting and scaremongering".
There is an excellent research paper, ‘Are You Doing Your Bit?’ The Marketization of Environmental Security by Ms Elke Krahmann University of Bristol on of the effects, of turning the environment and Climate Change into every day discussions. (see link below)
Now let’s turn to It’s a Living Thing underpinned by Electric Light Orchestra’s (ELO) sound track by the same name.
The New South Wales Government invested north of $20 million in this campaign to redefine the public perception the community had on two issues a) the government’s view on the environment and b) how the community could help in saving the environment. It appeared also to be good politics as the branding was anything but government.
The campaign featured 35 different television and radio advertisements along with print, press www based and outdoors.
The signature opening television commercial was well over 90 seconds long, a length not heard of very often in advertising land and hugely expensive. It worked a treat setting the umbrella for the campaign with an amazing and memorable sound track, loads of beautiful scenery, running water, happy people, lots of children and Indigenous Park Rangers and not a word about the actions the community would be asked to take, nor a politician within one hundred miles!
The campaign was focused on preserving our environment with a tag line, “Tread Softly” while also focusing on how to reduce waste, recycling, cigarette butts, rubbish flowing into creeks and rivers, the number of trees required for office paper supplies and litter.
The campaign I worked on didn't see the light of day due to a few issues including appropriate budget, ownership of the campaign and the timing was not perfect. By the way it was a great campaign, if I do say so myself.
Climate Change, where are we today?
As far as I can see we have not moved all that far since the United Kingdom commenced their campaigns in 1997 where people said, “there is no scientific evidence of climate change; others claim there is a division of scientific opinion on this issue and therefore the ad should not have attributed global warming to human activity”.
Is there a need for a campaign similar to, Are you doing your bit or It’s a Living Thing to raise awareness of Climate Change, our fragile environment and more importantly bring about behavioral change across the country?. You bet there is.
You know the easiest way to reduce your energy, water, and fuel bill is, to reduce consumption. I’ve heard people say, how do we do that, or we can’t do this or that because, well it’s about time we provided the reason and solutions for changing behaviors and the first place to start is the home with our children and in the workplace. Kid’s pesta power is amazing, just ask McDonald's we all give in sooner or later and in this case the sooner the better.
Kids will own our future, let's give them a significant role to play in helping us to reduce emissions, save energy along with saving mum and dad a few dollars each week. Easy pocket money for the children don't you think?
There are hundreds of tips on social media sites such, as AffordableEnergyQueensland with handy tips for saving energy and therefore money. Every energy company has tips for doing this or that to save money, mostly involve changing supplier to them, funny that.
There is just not enough information out there in a digestible, continuous, clear and consistent manner in places we can easily find.
I am firmly of the opinion that the community is ready, willing and open to hearing about how they can play a positive role in protecting our fragile environment, reducing energy use and emissions and costs, the missing ingredients are a compelling education campaign about the impacts of Climate Change and what we can do about it today.
The Rt Honourable John Prescott the United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister's view in 1997 is still valid in 2019, “irrespective of whatever climate change targets were agreed internationally, they would not be achieved unless further action by business and individuals was stimulated”.
#climatechange #renewables #education #environment #solar #wind #reliablebaseload #energy
are you doing your bit strategy