2008: Keep Britain Tidy, Social Marketing: Case Study

Snapshot

Keep Britain Tidy’s campaign played on young men’s desire to appear desirable by equating dropping litter with looking like a pig.

Key insights

• Keep Britain Tidy found that the main litter offenders, young men of 18-24, were nevertheless keen to not be seen as dirty or unhygienic.
• The campaign likened them to pigs to show them how others see them when they litter.
• The campaign also enabled the charity to discuss with fast food companies their making a long-term reduction in food litter.

Summary

Keep Britain Tidy is an environmental charity and the anti-litter campaign for England. Research in 2007 revealed that fast food litter is one of England’s biggest litter problems, with 24% of streets strewn with fast food. The Keep Britain Tidy litter segmentation report highlighted two important issues: that 18-24 year old males were the most likely group to drop litter and that issues of desirability were very important to this group.

In response to the research the campaign targeted 18-24 year old males. Litter droppers were likened to pigs to show them how others see them. Advertising mediums used included six-sheets, bus shelters, phone boxes, A3 posters in key locations, admirrors in restrooms, A4 adverts on toilet doors and pig snout stickers on mirrors.

To engage with the target audience a supporting dirty pig website was created which encouraged people to upload pictures of friends and family and add pig noses to them. Engaging with the fast food industry and key local authorities about the problem of litter was also an important aspect of the campaign. It proved highly effective, with a 31% reduction in litter at survey sites.

Honing in on the target

Keep Britain Tidy conducted market research in 2007 which revealed that fast food litter is one of England’s biggest litter problems, with 24% of streets being strewn with fast food. The research also showed that 18-24 year old males were the most likely to drop food litter so this was the audience to target. They lived in England, were more likely to smoke, and had a complete disregard for the consequences of dropping litter. This audience fell into Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Am I bothered’ litter segment.

However, this target audience was also deeply concerned about sexual desirability and were embarrassed if other people thought they were dirty or unhygienic. So the organisation decided to use a creative approach with the strapline ‘What does dropping litter make you look like?’ alongside the image of a male and female depicted as a pig. It was felt that this route would have a significant impact on this image-conscious age group.

The total budget for the campaign was £238,000. This was broken down as follows:

• Agency budget (creative, design, artwork): £72,935.
• Booking advertising space: £159,404.
• Printing/production: £2,689.
• Public relations (PR) and a launch event in London: £2,000.

Covering all the bases

The campaign ran for four weeks and was integrated across a variety of channels. The outdoor advertising campaign featured two posters: one of a young female and one of a young male depicted as pigs with pig snouts, accompanied with the strapline ‘What does dropping litter make you look like?’ (Figure 1). Media used included six-sheets, bus shelters, phone boxes and A3 posters placed in key locations. Ambient media was also used, with advertising being placed indoors, primarily on admirrors in washrooms, as this was the location the target audience was most likely to be looking at themselves. A4 posters were also placed on toilet doors and pig snout stickers on mirrors.

In addition, the organisation partnered with 10 local authorities to ensure campaign delivery on the ground, as well as wide regional coverage. Campaign partners were chosen to have wide geographical reach and included Colchester Borough Council, Trafford Council, Gateshead Council and the London Borough of lslington. The participating local authorities partnered the campaign by holding a launch event and placing A3 posters and A4 window stickers in key locations, A4 stickers on bins and stickers on mirrors. They also conducted pre and post-campaign litter counts to measure the effectiveness of the work, which showed a combined 31% reduction in litter.

In addition, local authorities were encouraged to engage with local businesses and request that they sign up to a voluntary ‘Food on The Go’ pledge and display campaign posters in their windows. The feedback from participating councils was very positive, with 100% of those involved reporting that the major fast food retailers (such as McDonald’s, Greggs, KFC and Subway), as well as independent outlets in their areas, had shown their support.

The web was used as a promotional tool and a bespoke website was created to run alongside the campaign. The web address was promoted throughout the campaign and those visiting the site could upload pictures of their friends and family and add pig noses to them.

Naming and shaming

Manchester University undertook some research on behalf of Keep Britain Tidy to look at the relationship between key brands and litter. The research found that the public’s opinion of major brands was greatly reduced once they saw those brands littered on the street. In response to this Keep Britain Tidy conducted a branded litter survey which counted the most littered fast food brands found on England’s streets.

The top ten manufacturers/retailers were then named and shamed through the media. The branded litter found to be most prevalent was from McDonald’s (53%), Greggs (20%) unbranded fish and chips (13%) and KFC (6%). The charity wrote to the chief executives of the companies named detailing a list of suggested initiatives for reducing litter, and invited them to write back and suggest ways they could work together.

On the day of the campaign’s launch the media were invited to attend a special launch event in London, which again named and shamed fast food manufacturers/retailers. The event featured specially-made giant beef burgers and fast food wrappings, which ensured excellent media interest.

Hitting the mark

The campaign was highly successful. In terms of short-term success, it showed immediate correlation between the campaign and the impact of litter as it brought about a 31% reduction in litter at survey sites. The campaign messaging was well understood, with 45% of respondents saying they thought the key message was ‘Don’t drop litter’, 23% interpreted it as being ‘Put your litter in the bin’ and 65% said that ‘If you drop litter it makes you look like a pig’.

Contacting both Greggs and McDonald’s chief executives by letter was also highly fruitful, with the companies responding with long-term strategies to reduce litter. Greggs was planning to change its packaging messaging to communicate to its customers that they should put it in the bin. The company also held Big Tidy Up clean-up events across England (the Big Tidy Up is a campaign run by Keep Britain Tidy which invites any member of the public, groups and businesses to hold litter clean-ups). Discussions with McDonald’s also resulted in the company improving litter cleansing outside its stores.

In terms of PR, the campaign was very successful. The campaign PR launch event in London generated media coverage worth £6.8 million, and reached an audience of 122 million people worldwide. It was featured on national television, including BBC Breakfast and BBC Newsround, and the story made page leads in five national newspapers and regional and commercial radio stations.

As Keep Britain Tidy is an environmental charity, the environment was considered throughout the campaign. Paper-based mailings were avoided, particularly untargeted direct mail. All printed materials were produced on evolution satin 75% recycled stock, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and were recycled afterwards.

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