The county published a case study this week (22 December) on how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted its campaign to “change the mindset of how plastic is used, reduced and recycled”.
The majority of the content for the campaign had been finalised in January 2020, and was set to be launched throughout the 2020 calendar year. But, when the lockdown began in March 2020, the council was unable to continue with the activities it had originally planned (such as in-person events).
Instead, Essex said the majority of communications had to be via social media and digital platforms, which proved successful.
“We trialled a radio campaign to launch the Plastic Pledge but found we had more success via paid promotion on our own social media channels,” the county council explained.
Cost
Throughout 2020 and into early 2021, nearly 18,000 residents supported the Essex Plastic Pledge in a bid to reduce their single-use plastic by swapping to reusable alternatives.
Essex spent £4,480 on paid social media advertising across the year and achieved 58,907 engagements and 795,405 impressions on these posts.
The campaign also included plans to work with schools to raise awareness. However, this proved difficult due to the schools being closed during lockdown, and then “the huge challenge of students readjusting to heading back to school”. Instead, the authority introduced a microgrant scheme that awarded 40 schools £250 to put towards a plastic-reducing project.
To ensure that schools were able to get involved, Essex gave them a deadline of end of September 2021 to get their projects up and running. “This allowed staff and students to settle back in, and offered plenty of time to discuss project ideas before launching,” the council added.
Lessons
Essex said the lessons learned from this campaign will now be used in all going forward, as the Covid-19 pandemic “isn’t expected to disappear soon”.
The council explained that it will now always need to prepare content that fits with new ways of working/living. For example, this will involve planning communications in light of fewer people in offices and workplaces, social distancing and restrictions.
The county said it also found that digital/social media advertising proved to be “a lot more successful and engaging than some of the alternative channels we tried”.
Going forwards, Essex county council said it will allocate a higher proportion of campaign budgets to social media and digital advertising.
Related link
Essex County Council: Love Essex, Not Plastic
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