Wood for Good

More than 9,000 newsletter subscribers in 2017

More than 2,000 educational PDF downloads every year

Wood for Good was a 22-year-long, not-for-profit campaign championing the use of wood in design and construction across the UK, inspired by similar marketing campaigns in Europe and North America. Supported by industry giants including Confor, Swedish Wood, Timber Development UK, the Structural Timber Association, BWF and other industry bodies, the campaign aimed to promote timber as a key material in sustainable design and construction.

Challenge

Wood is nature’s most versatile building material, and modern engineering methods expand possibilities for its application beyond traditional uses. So the Wood for Good campaign had one main purpose: to make wood a first choice material for specifiers, designers and builders by demonstrating what you can do with wood.

Our challenge was to keep finding inspiring, educational and informative examples of timber in design and construction and ensuring these resonated with Wood for Good's target audiences.

Strategy

LMC originally worked with Wood for Good on its communications strategy in 2008, and then again from 2017 to 2022, helping to reach ever wider audiences through a series of proactive and collaborative PR and social media campaigns.

We ran the Wood for Good Press Office to handle all media inquiries and drive targeted campaigns to the architectural, engineering and construction press. LMC also managed the monthly Wood for Good e-newsletter, wrote in-depth features and case studies and kept its website and social media channels updated with fresh content.

Wood for Good had a strong presence at industry events such as Ecobuild and Futurebuild. It also ran a series of WoodFest events from Cardiff to Newcastle and Sheffield, bringing together architects and construction professionals from around the country to a series of in-person regional events.

In 2020, Wood for Good launched the 'Wood C02ts Less' initiative, a high-profile PR and advertising campaign backed and supported by sponsors and industry champions. We used this campaign to take the message to a broader political and influencer audience in the run-up to and including COP26 in Glasgow.

As the environmental benefits of building with wood became more mainstream, we helped the campaign shift focus onto the health and wellbeing elements of building with wood, including biophilic design - all of which became particularly important during the Covid years as we became so much more aware of the impact of the built environment on our physical and mental wellbeing.

Results

When Wood for Good wrapped up in 2022, it had become the go-to resource for anyone interested in building sustainably with wood.

At the time of its launch at the turn of the millenium, being environmentally friendly meant recycling cans, glass, paper and hard plastics. Electric vehicles were still largely in prototype form and the concept of Net Zero was unheard of.

Following a successful 22-year campaign, the feeling was that Wood for Good had achieved its original goal. The carbon and environmental benefits of timber are now commonly acknowledged to be synonymous with using wood in construction.

Campaign Director - Wood for Good

"What I get from LMC is completely solid support. Someone to provide strategic advice, bounce ideas off, help me measure results and report upwards, and a team that really understands what journalists will be interested in; what are the topical issues in the construction industry.”