Deeper Engagement with The Big Positive Weekend
30 Jun 2015
Coriander Cows was responsible for creating The Big Positive Weekend in 2014, and we are currently developing partnerships for the 2016 event. The road show has been awarded a BiTC Big Tick, and is a finalist for the BiTC award on communicating sustainability. As we celebrate and keep our fingers crossed for the 7th July when we collect our award (positive mental attitude!) it made me think of a previous post regarding striking a balance between achieving high level 'reached' numbers, and true depth of engagement and how one doesn't naturally follow the other.
One of the challenges faced when reporting on the impacts of The Big Positive Weekend was a sense that some would feel disappointed with the numbers because of the very traditional 'as seen by' numbers used to evaluate marketing campaigns. With 2.4 million people passing through the host shopping centres during a Big Positive Weekend event, should we be reporting that millions were engaged?
However, what this shows is that a marketing campaign and an engagement campaign are very different things. What was great was that the Hammerson Sustainability Team and the partners - Nationwide, E.ON, Renault, H&M and SEA LIFE all valued the depth of engagement, rather than the numbers - an attitude that will change how effective campaigns are, for the better.
We determined to track engagement only where we believed someone had connected with content, a discussion or a product. For example, hundred of thousands will have seen the H&M Conscious display, but we wanted to stop, engage and connect with people about H&M's Conscious Commitments. Only this would provide the level of engagement needed if they were to start looking for the Conscious label, consider H&M for their next purchase or bring their unwanted clothes in for recycling. We recorded over 3,000 people stopping and chatting through the commitments with H&M representatives. They were shown where the recycled clothes went, got to look at some of the pieces in the collection and began to understand that the choice to shop at H&M could significantly change the impact of their shopping even without giving up that new outfit. That's 3000 people who will have understood enough to pass this information on to friends and family, a recommendation that will hold more weight than any brand message.