“Communicating with the Citizen” VANGUARD/MIMOSA Training Workshop Leuven 8-9 February 2010

1. “Communicating with the Citizen” VANGUARD/MIMOSA Training Workshop Leuven 8-9 February 2010 THE CIVITAS INITIATIVE IS CO-FINANCEDBY THE EUROPEAN UNION

2. DAY ONE

3. Welcome to the Flanders Region… home of marketeers for sustainable urban transport! 1. Saskia Schatteman, Marketeer of the year 2008 2. Red de Stoep, smart marketing for smart use of sidewalks 3. Wim Van Hees, veteran marketeer stopped €4 billion bridge project

4. By popular demand! LDM PDM

5. The VANGUARD training offer

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)

10. Awareness-raising, Dissemination and Communication Strategy Developed throughout 2009 Finalised in November 2009 Serves as the overall communications strategy for CIVITAS

11.  Dissemination of “CIVITAS” Communicating with the consumer (Awareness raising among citizens) KOSTAS: OK?

12. Our Focus for this Workshop: Communicating with the consumer (Awareness raising among citizens)

13. Communications OverviewThe Essentials

14. 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.

15. 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

16. Communications OverviewCommunicating about Sustainability

17. “Sustainable”/“Sustainability”in the News Source: Google news archive

18. Today’s Media Environment

19. Today’s Media Environment Your competition is fierce!

20. EXERCISE: News Review

21. Creating a Communications Plan Define your objectives. Determine your audience. Create your messages. Select your tools and channels. Plan and activate your programme. Evaluate success and share info.

22. Creating a Communications Plan Define your objectives. Determine your audience. Create your messages. Select your tools and channels. Plan and activate your programme. Evaluate success and share info.

23. 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?

24. 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?

25. 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

26. Creating a Communications Plan Define your objectives. Determine your audience. Create your messages. Select your tools and channels. Plan and activate your programme. Evaluate success and share info.

27. 2. Determine Your Target Audience

28. 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?

29. 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

30. 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)

31. EXERCISE: Mapping your target audiences

32. Step I List all the target audiences that are relevant to your city’s project.

33. Step II

34. SPOTLIGHT ON: Aalborg, DK (ARCHIMEDES)Target Audiences Commuter Route for Cyclists Gustav Friis, City of Aalborg

35. 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 City Centre University

36. Cycle Motorway Workshop September 28, 2009 • Start and Ends + Overall concept • Bonnesensgade + Samsøgade: City stretches • Hadsundvej – from Riishøjsvej to Humlebakken: Intersections • Hadsundvej – from Humlebakken to Motorvejen: The Hill

37. 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.

38. How it looked

39. 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.

41. Creating a Communications Plan Define your objectives. Determine your audience. Create your messages. Select your tools and channels. Plan and activate your programme. Evaluate success and share info.

42. 3. Message Development

43. 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?

44. 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

45. 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?

46. “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.

47. Tailor messages for your audiences Consider using an audience/ message matrix

48. 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?

50. Messaging Essentials Repeat, repeat, repeat