For part of my third year at university we have been asked to write a post about a CIPR Pride awards winner and the one I chose to do was Thames Water Press Offices 'Bin it-Dont Block it' campaign. They won gold for both best use of media relations and best campaign with a budget of 10k and under.
Let me discribe the campaign to you then I will invite any comments on the issue.
Every year 55,000 blockages are caused by people in the Thames Valley region flushing or washing unsiutable waste down their toilets or sinks, this results in at least 7,000 homes and gardens being flooded, this has huge financial implications for Thames Water (£12m in fact) and is a serious problem for the whole country. The message that people should stop flushing unsuitable things down their toilets is a tired, old and boring one and the big task for Thames Water press office was to convey the message in a creative and innovative way, with a very limited budget.
The campaigns objectives were as follows:
- To devise a fresh new campaign on an age old problem to run over six months
- To develop an online presence (embracing social media)
- To maximise campaign cooverage whilst avoiding repetition
- To use traditional PR tecniques with no marketing budget
Thames Water conducted a survey and found that 41% of their customers flush unsuitable products down toilets and sinks, so the campaign had to change peoples attitudes and encourage them to change their behaviour.
The campaign used a series of 'hits' in which to unroll the campaign, in the first hit they coined the term 'Sewer Abuse' which would go on to be used widely by the media, they sent out a news release and held a photocall in London sewers and manholes which was attended by ITV, The Press Association and BBC1 South. they teamed up with 'Grime fighters' to do a five part series which attracted five million viewers per episode.
The second hit was rathermore organic and used subtle humour the engage the audience; In December 2009 they used a handycam to film the ‘flushers’ singing ‘This Christmas think of Sewermen’ to the tune of ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen’ whilst wearing Christmas hats, this video was posted on YouTube and much to the surprise of Thames Water, was picked up by ITV and re-filmed. The film appeared on BBC Breakfast as well as other prime time shows which demonstrates excellent media relations and in my opinion shows an innovative idea.
This video was backed up by ‘Flushers’ blogs and after sending celebrities down the Sewers to experience what the ‘Flushers’ do, they too wrote blogs about the subject.
Finally, the third hit involved BBC1 London and BBC Newsround filmed the sewers underneath Leicester Square (which are the worst in the country) which was followed by a photocall and news release respectively.
The results were outstanding and whilst gaining an incredible amount of coverage Thames Water still managed to keep the budget down to £280, just £250 for photography and £30 for Christmas hats!
What I would like to know is do you think it deserved to win GOLD for both best use of media relations? Or 10k and under? Or both? I think it deserved both but is it sustainable? Could the same idea be used next year? Do you think they should have measured people’s attitudes and actions AFTER the campaign to see if it was succesful?
I welcome your comments!
