Building, Construction News and the ICE offer their 10 great tips for lobbying campaigns

This week I was delighted to hand over the reins as Chair of CAPSIG to my successor, Phil Morgan, head of external and public affairs at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association.

CAPSIG is the construction and property special interest group of my professional institute, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. It's a group of 250 or more bright minds in PR working in property, architecture, construction and related sectors, who meet four or five times a year to network and share ideas on best practice in PR. I have had the privilege of chairing the group for more than four years, so it was high time that someone else took over the role. I've no doubt Phil will do a great job... Although not too good, please Phil... ;-)

The official election of the new Chair for CAPSIG was also marked by an excellent event on lobbying campaigns in construction. (I shall put the link to the presentations from this event as soon as it's available).

We looked at three recent campaigns that have aimed to influence political support and policy for the construction industry and that are, to varying degrees, still active now:

• Nick Edwards, Editor of Construction News, talked about CN's Vote for Construction campaign *
• Sarah Richardson, Deputy Editor of Building, talked about Building's Charter 284 *
• Lionel Zetter, one of the PR industry's most distinguished consultants, talked about the campaign for a National Infrastructure Investment Bank (NIIB) run by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

(* sorry, the links to CN and Building may only be helpful if you are a subscriber to these publications - their websites now have paywalls).

Each campaign has clearly enjoyed some success so far, although I got the sense that (much like the rest of us) they are facing a much harder task now if they still want to lobby a coalition Government.

But it was particularly fascinating to hear how and why industry magazines choose to run their own campaigns. Like professional institutes and trade associations, these titles see themselves in much the same light as membership bodies - lobbying on behalf of their readers in order to build loyalty, to be seen to be 'giving something back', and to position themselves as leaders in the industry.

Phil asked each of the speakers for their views on what makes a successful campaign. Here are the 10 great tips they offered:

1. Have clear aims - this is where I think both Building and the ICE campaigns were particularly strong. CN had a broad message that could be adapted to different local needs, but the others had the edge simply because they had set out much more specific and measurable actions they wanted to see. Obviously, the more targeted and detailed you can be in your aims, the more focus, impact and success you are likely to achieve. 
   
   
2. Don't campaign against your own readers/members - cue an interesting discussion about whether CN would ever run a campaign on tackling health and safety failures in the industry... but that, as they say, is another story...
   
   
3. Commission research first - Building used the LEK report, the ICE commissioned its own research and discussion paper on the feasibility of the NIIB (see link above), and CN tapped into the political insights and resources offered by its sister company DeHavilland. This research gives a strong factual foundation to any lobbying or PR campaign and means it will be taken more seriously.
   
   
4. Make it memorable - via a catchy name, striking logo, publicity stunt etc. This is where Building made a huge impact. The agitprop graphics created by Group Production Editor David Rogers were awesome, and created a strong visual brand for the campaign that Building used over the six weeks on the run-up to the Election.
   
   
5. Aim to make a difference - and, if I may add something here, make sure you claim the success afterwards. There's no point going to all the effort of lobbying for change if no one knows about it. As Sarah said at the CAPSIG event: it pays to be "shouty and intelligent".
   
   
6. Offer solutions - this is particularly important in the current climate. A campaign cannot just be a whinge.
   
   
7. Align with Government - or, in other words, don't be stubborn and try to push water uphill. And forget any special pleading for the sector. Know what the Government's aims are, and propose a clever, low cost way they can meet those aims.
   
   
8. Forge alliances with others - something I believe is absolutely critical if you aim to achieve thought leadership (here's an earlier blog post on this). But there was no chance of Building and CN cuddling up together on a joint campaign, I was told - no matter how great the threat to the industry. This is where the ICE and other professional institutes can take the lead. Interestingly, Building pre-tested its campaign with several industry groups and then made many phone calls over a couple of weeks to ensure they could sign up key people and organisations to the cause. Even they knew it would not be enough to put the Charter on the front cover and expect everyone to respond - the team had to get out there, be proactive and work hard to recruit the campaign's supporters. One thing I particularly liked about CN's campaign was the way it provided readers with information on prospective parliamentary candidates in their area, plus other information that would allow supporters to localise the messages behind the campaign.
   
   
9. Be realistic about what you can achieve - all three campaigns demonstrated this modesty and realism, and this plays well with Government and readers/members alike.
   
   
10. Have patience - oh, how true! Campaigns may only run at full throttle for a short time, but the real success comes from sustained, long-term effort. Like the ICE's campaign, think in terms of several years and - assuming it's worth doing - make the commitment to see it through to the end.

So what else would you say is essential for a successful lobbying campaign?

And what campaigns should UK construction be running now, faced as we are with many new political, economic, social and technological challenges? Participants at the CAPSIG event suggested campaigns on energy security, respect for people/employees, support for SMEs, recruiting new talent into the industry and improvements to the public procurement process. What would you add to that list?

As part of BrightTalk's Green Week, I tuned in yesterday to an interesting webcast by Lucy Shea, CEO of Futerra on 'Green Messaging and Marketing'.

Futerra are specialists in behaviour change communications and long-time advisers to Governments around the world on their climate change campaigns. I love their work.

In the webcast Lucy took the opportunity to remind everyone of the overwhelming importance of setting clear, measurable, strategic and tactical objectives before launching into any sort of communications campaign, before explaining again two areas of Futerra's work which I'd like to mention here.

The first is a very simple but helpful way of beginning to segment audiences.

It's no substitute for proper market research, but this sort of segmentation can help kickstart your communications planning by helping you to understand the range of potential reactions to your green messages.

Futerra has taken inspiration from the work of Cultural Dynamics (CDSM) and CDSM's concept of 'Values Modes'. The Values Modes categorise people into 12 discrete psychographic types within three general groups ('Settlers', 'Pioneers' and 'Prospectors').

Sounds a bit dry and academic I know, but bear with me - it's marketing dynamite.

Understanding these types of people and their motivations is very important to anyone who wants to sell stuff or create a communications campaign that raises awareness, changes hearts and minds and effects behavioural change. As CDSM explains:

"The Values Modes help to explain WHY people do the things and make the choices that they do."

As I heard the Futerra folk explain at Ecobuild, and as Lucy reinforced yesterday, Futerra has used this work to create its own catchy set of marketing groups:

• They start by describing what they call the 'Brick Wedge' (CDSM's 'Settlers'). These are the 'small world thinkers', people who care passionately about local community issues (parks, neighbours, dog fouling etc.) and work hard at making better environments for themselves and others. They probably don't think they have much, if any, impact on the global scene for good or ill. They want answers, not more questions. They tend to be suspect of change, think things were better in the past, and care about being good home-makers. And it's not just a middle class tendency - disadvantaged kids in inner city estates are often brick wedgers.

• At the other end of the spectrum is the 'Green Wedge' (CDSM's 'Pioneers'). These are the 'big world thinkers', people who are deeply concerned with the big global issues of environmental sustainability. They are more likely to worry about the impact of glacial retreat than the state of the local park. They were the first into recycling - they're now cutting consumption and composting. Driven by a strong moral imperative, the cost of green makes very little difference to them - they do it because it's the right thing to do. They are suspect of cool and anything too commercial (witness the Deep Greenies' grumbles about this year's Ecobuild exhibition).

• Potentially most interesting of all is the 'Gold Wedge' (CDSM's 'Prospectors'). These are the 'outer directed' folk, ultimately motivated most by what other people will think of them (although they would never admit or articulate it like that). They are optimistic, ambitious and savvy. They like change because it's cool, but it has to be visibly cool, desirable and high status (on their terms, not yours). Needless to say, they tend to be the high spenders.

The key point to remember here is that messages for one group will not cross over to another.

This explains why PR campaigns by sustainability experts (very often the green 'pioneers') don't seem to have much impact on builders (very often 'settlers' in outlook). It explains why your communications need to be targeted. Or, if you want mass market business, need to appeal to all.

Lucy also gave some good pointers for green messages that succeed better than others. To paraphrase her advice:

1. Keep messages positive and high status.
2. Keep language very simple, and make clear and direct requests ("walk on the path" rather than "help respect your environment").
3. Balance your message - the scale of the green solution you offer has to be proportionate to the scale of the problem (that's why turning down a thermostat doesn't seem to sound credible advice when you've told people it's to help tackle global climate change).
4. Use pictures and case studies to create empathy and emotion, both very powerful tools.
5. Remember: seeing is believing. Make it tangible, show the evidence.

In passing, Lucy made an interesting point about why so many energy efficiency campaigns tend to fail - they breach the golden rule that we must never use messaging that attacks home or family. It's a huge turn-off. Those advertisements of unhappy houses with "my owners don't care about me or my energy use" type messages are not likely to get us on side.

Finally, Lucy took the opportunity to plug Futerra's report 'Sell the Sizzle' - and I'm doing the same now! It's a document I have sent as recommended reading to all our clients interested in sustainability communications. (Download a PDF of 'Sell the Sizzle' here).

In a nutshell, the report makes a very simple point. If you want to achieve emotional buy-in to green messages, you must first sell the sizzle - show people the exciting, positive vision of how things could be different, the benefits they could enjoy, the way life could be better. Only then can you explain the issues/problems, and the choices that people have to make on the road to achieving this vision.

But I admit this is a very simplistic overview, so I shall explain more about Sizzle in a later blog post.

For now I recommend Lucy's webcast and welcome your thoughts on the Values Modes. By the way, apparently I'm a 'Transcender' which sounds rather nice. You can check out your own personal Values Mode by taking this quick test on CDSM's website.

I spent a very interesting and enjoyable afternoon today with three fellow Fellows of CiB - a small but very effective association known as the British Association of Communicators in Business and soon to become the Institute of Internal Communications.

I was awarded Fellowship of CiB in 2007. So today it was my turn to give something back and help assess applications for this year's crop of Fellows. I hope they will all feel as pleased and honoured as I was to get this recognition.

But the reason for blogging tonight is because of a very brief conversation which took place over lunch.

We were reminiscing about early careers, and discussing how so many of CiB's members and Fellows came into the internal and business communications world via a stint in local newspapers. This is very much the heritage of CiB's membership - although it is changing a lot now, the association traditionally represented the interests of 'industrial editors', the people who write and edit organisations' own newspapers, company magazines, staff newsletters and the like, and most of these people have obviously had previous lives in journalism.

The question hung in the air: "So would we recommend such a career path to a young person today?"

Everyone went a bit quiet, while we muttered things about how many changes we had seen in local media and how worried we were for its future.

And tonight I read that MPs have started getting worried about this too.

Enders Analysis, a media consultancy, has warned that up to half of Britain's 1,300 regional titles could close within five years. Threats come in all shapes and sizes (quite a lot them web-related of course), but the big issue that caught my attention is the threat from council-run freesheets.

You'll know the sort of thing I mean - that glossy news magazine/tabloid that drops through your door and tells you what's going on and how wonderful life is in your neighbourhood.

I had not realised that these freesheets were causing so much damage to the local press, but the cross-party culture, media and sports committee of MPs has warned that such publications:

"pose as, and compete with, local commercial newspapers and are misleading to the public..."

You can download a copy of its 'Future for Local and Regional Media' report here (PDF).

The committee chairman is also quoted in the FT as saying:

"While it is important that local authorities communicate with their citizens, it is unacceptable that councils can set up publications in direct competition to local newspapers and that act as a vehicle for political propaganda".

Apparently the issue may get investigated by the OFT. It's something I shall watch more carefully in the coming months.

In the meantime, I didn't raise with my CiB colleagues today the obvious irony of the situation. How so many ex-newspaper reporters, now CiB members forging their careers as editors of pubic and private sector freesheets in the name of effective internal communications or PR, are potentially contributing to the destruction of the nursery slopes, the very best training ground they ever had... 

So I'm not sure we could even suggest such a career path to young communicators anymore. My guess is the industrial editing future belongs to those people who can bring journalism skills from a very different, largely digitally-led, background. They will be the CiB Fellows of the future.

You may already be familiar with Defra’s Green Claims Code. For 10 years it has set out best practice on the content of environmental claims including accuracy, truthfulness, relevance, use of unambiguous terminology, presentation of claims and comparative claims. 

About a year ago I blogged that Defra was consulting on an update to its guidance - well, the final consultation paper is now published. It is open for comment until 15 June this year.

I will put in a response. I'm very likely to echo the views of the great people at Futerra who have pointed out how toothless the guidance appears to be. (Read also this viewpoint by Fred Pearce in the Guardian).

But in the meantime, a flurry of new rules and guidance has emerged this year to help us understand what more we need to do to promote our green credentials in a way that guarantees greater credibility, consumer protection and social responsibility.

In January the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) published a framework and practical checklist for Responsible Environmental Marketing Communications (PDF).

The influential Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) also published its new codes just weeks ago. They bring in additional explicit rules designed to prevent exaggerated environmental promises by products, services and organisations.

The new CAP codes come into effect this September and will be regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority. They state that advertisers must ensure all environmental claims are crystal clear to consumers and all absolute claims must be backed by a “high level of substantiation”. We must acknowledge areas where scientific opinion is divided. We must also base environmental claims on the full lifecycle of the product.

It’s not just about standalone statements in some advertising copy. Linking a single, truthful claim (“we use natural paint to ensure no volatile organic compounds...”) with a broader claim (“Acme Homes are kinder to the planet…”) is likely to get us into hot water.  Even a scientifically accurate claim can be misleading if, taken out of context, it implies or omits something relevant.

The rules apply over all paid-for media, and even to websites and social media. 

And it goes well beyond what words we use – green claims can include pictures, colours and logos as well. 

PR consultants like myself may breathe a sign of relief that, technically, we’re immune - neither the CAP nor the ICC codes apply directly to ‘corporate communications’.  We argue that PR about a company’s aspirations and sustainability initiatives, its annual reports or CSR statements are usually provided in a context that will ensure there is no confusion with advertising claims. And anyway, we mutter, the media loves absolutes and hyperbole and has no time for all this qualified language.

However, we would be daft not to take on board every one of these new rules. 

It’s not as if it’s all so alien – the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) published guidelines on communicating about sustainability two years ago.

Green marketing is no different from regular marketing.  Business ethics still hold. Waging war on little green lies will protect corporate reputations, build more confident businesses and counter the cynics out to knock the industry.

10 top tips to avoid greenwash

1. If you talk about sustainability, energy,  waste, water, raw materials, noise,  air quality, global warming, greenhouse gases, wildlife, human health, toxins or other environmental topics in your marketing and PR, make sure you read up on the new codes and international standards like ISO 14021 which clarify requirements on environmental labelling.
2. Do an audit. Check the words, the pictures, the colours, the logos. 
3. Look at everything through the eyes of your most cynical competitor. Then apply what I call the Mum Test (would a “reasonable consumer” understand what this claim really means?)
4. Watch out for words like ‘reduced energy’, ‘reduced waste’ etc. Always make it clear what has been reduced.  Only make a feature of it if it has resulted in a significant environmental improvement taking all aspects of life cycle into account.
5. Verify as much as you can.  At the bottom of your advertisements, press releases and marketing literature, provide links to a section on your website where you publish the independent scientific evidence that backs up your claim.
6. Not everything has to have a full dossier addressing every conceivable impact of the product on the environment, but the greater the value being placed on the claim, the more robust verification needs to be.
7. If you’re planning a major campaign to promote your green credentials, first do some thorough consumer testing and perception research.
8. Reassess your claims regularly. Check whether circumstances have changed or what the latest scientific and technical evidence says.
9. Communicate the journey, not just the end result.  No one expects you to be zero carbon today. But you can gain respect by honestly communicating what actions have been carried out to help you work towards it.
10. Make sure your PR, advertising and digital marketing agencies understand the technical details.  No more fluff.  Demand compliance with the new legal requirements and best practice in communicating about sustainability.

PS. Need more advice? Check out my earlier blog posts on the '10 steps to absolution' from the 'Six Sins of Greenwashing'!

Sadly, I missed it. But the other day at Ecobuild a group of eagle-eyed marketeers went on a guided tour of the Ecobuild exhibition.

Led by Rick Osman of Highwire Design for CIMCIG - the Chartered Institute of Marketing's construction interest group - they scanned a selection of exhibition stands looking for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Rick then published a very useful and diplomatic guide - the CIMCIG Walkabout Notes (PDF) - which highlighted how many companies could increase the effectiveness of their stand by simple adjustments of the display material.

It's an excellent read. Some of his top tips include:

• Ensure your stand gives clear and unambiguous messages about who you are and what you do (no matter how well known your brand might be).
• Make information readable from the aisle, always keep words above waist level, and provide pictures of case studies.
• The display should be rooted in the product itself and its benefits.
• Ensure well-stocked brochure holders.
• Consider use of good, large explanatory drawings and plenty of examples.
• Avoid any rubbish on your stand (busy-ness and activity should not degenerate into messiness).
• Never eat on your stand.
• Don't create a fortress by putting large displays/counters/products at the front of a stand which act as a barrier.
• Don't put videos at the back of your stand and then stand in front of them!
• A4 is far too small a size to be an exhibition poster.

For professional services companies, Rick's advice is spot on:

"For consultancies and similar companies, the lesson is the same as for a product supplier - tell visitors who you are and what you do, and rather than displaying actual products use the benefits of using the consultancy and ensure this is backed up with case studies."

Of course I'm not as diplomatic as Rick. So when I did a bit of a tour of the exhibition myself each day, I will admit that I was struck even more by the lack of human engagement by some of the exhibitors:

This stand (see above) looks busy but actually the people on it are the guys from the stand next door, picking over the marketing materials and samples on display. The stand itself was entirely un-manned every time I passed it during the three days of the exhibition.

This stand (see above) just made me sad. Maybe he was tired out from a flurry of new business enquiries and decided to have a quiet sit down for an hour or two. But never have I seen a company representative look so bored, lonely or dejected. If you see him next year, please buy him a coffee and stop for a chat?

In contrast, I'm breaking all rules of impartiality and giving the People Make The Difference Award to my client Inbuilt (see above), who put on a series of free '20 Minute Briefings' talks on their stand. Even the youngest consultants there had the gumption to stand in front of a crowd of strangers, put on a microphone and launch energetically into a presentation on some critical aspect of sustainability in the built environment. Every day, every hour, they'd put on a show - even if, at first, there was just a single person in the audience.

So by all means invest in a fantastic stand and the best brochures money can buy, but don't forget that it's your people who make exhibitions commercially successful. There's some great advice on all aspects of exhibition marketing, particularly the people bit, at this website - Exhibition-Stand-Training.com.