Communications case study: 10,000 Actions
06 Mar 2017
What does it take to promote the biggest-ever environmental sustainability initiative for staff in higher education? Careful planning, creative communications and a lot of work...
People and planning
Colleagues came together from across the University to make 10,000 Actions a reality, encouraging more than 10,000 University colleagues to take action in order to help create a more sustainable world.
The 10,000 Actions Implementation Group included PSS and academic colleagues from across the University, and governed the project’s communication activity.
Social Responsibility Communications and Engagement Manager Lisa Govey developed the project communications plan. She worked with colleagues from the Division of Communication and Marketing (Mikaela Sitford, Internal Communications Officer, and Steve McCabe, Estates Designer) and the Environmental Sustainability Team (Lucy Millard, Environmental Sustainability Manager) to segment the different target audiences, tailor messages to these audiences and select the best channels and tactics to employ to reach and engage with people successfully.
Lisa said: “The aim to get as many staff as possible to complete an individual action plan meant that communicating to all University staff was vital. Working with communications colleagues across the Faculties was key to the success of this, and while targeting colleagues who do not have access to a computer was a challenge, and time-consuming, it was key to giving access to the programme to all staff.”
Promotional tactics
The campaign used all available internal communications channels to raise awareness of 10,000 Actions, as well as social media. In an unusual move, a striking visual teaser appeared on University campus for promotional effect.
Content included:
- a sustainable willow structure of the figure ’10,000’ created by local artist Cherry Chung, placed next to University Place and clearly visible from Oxford Road;
- articles, images and videos developed for communications colleagues across the University to use in their local channels;
- illustrations by local artist Hammo for use on social media;
- short films featuring the Vice-Deans for Social Responsibility for each Faculty to use locally, plus senior staff commenting on their experience, thoughts and actions after they completed their individual plans;
- selfies taken by staff holding a purple speech bubble highlighting their individual actions, shared on social media;
- presentations for face-to-face sessions with staff who do not have access to a computer.
Results to date
- Over 40% of University staff have logged onto the 10,000 Actions website
- 1,702 action plans have been created, containing 23,848 actions
- 4,757 actions are in progress or have been completed
- Positive anecdotal feedback, with a high level of general campaign awareness among staff
Follow-up communications has included case studies, such as:
- Rachel Bailey, Student Recruitment and Widening Participation Manager
- Vicky Plane, Energy Beacon Communications and Marketing Manager
There is an ongoing campaign to encourage more staff to complete an action plan and encourage those who have completed a plan to keep it updated.
Top tips
“Working collegiately was crucial to the success of the campaign,” says Lisa. “The Environmental Sustainability Team highlighted what they needed to achieve, we developed a series of message and calls to action to appeal to staff, while Communications and Marketing colleagues advised on the best tactical ways of reaching all staff.”
Find out more about 10,000 Actions.