Word of Mouth Campaigns

And we too are working with tourism business ambassadors on the same issue - they can reach their staff, their peers, their supply chains, and their visitors...we'll keep you posted!

Cheers,
Manda

Manda Brookman
Director CoaST:
Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project
Penstraze Business Centre,
Truro, Cornwall, UK TR4 8HY
p: 01872 562 057
f: 01872 560450
m: 07816 061 780
w: coastproject.co.uk

Alexis,

I'm in the process of launching an effort related to what you described - a community of street-wise cyclists encouraging folks within their own network to start riding. More info is at: http://www.bikesage.com/about. If anyone on this listserve has suggestions for making a program like this successful, I welcome your feedback. The City of Chicago has a Bicycle Ambassadors program: http://www.bicyclingambassadors.org/. So does the City of Toronto: http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/ratsa/index.htm Also, from the government perspective, you should check out what the City of Portland is doing with their SmartTrips program, which is very innovative: http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=43801. Several bicycle advocacy organizations over the last several years have sponsored "Bike Buddy" programs. The Bicycle Alliance of Washington and San Francisco Bike Coalitions both have good programs (The Washington group is in the process of reevaluating their program right now). Good luck with your efforts!

Let's keep in touch,
Ron

RON MILAM CONSULTING
* (323) 793-0591
* www.ronmilam.com
* www.bikesage.com 

Hello Alexis,

I am a past project leader for a physical activity strategy called "in motion". Part of our initiative involved "Bike to Work Week" and "Bike to School Week". 95% of our schools were "in motion" schools and so we promoted Bike to School Week through this network. Each school had a champion identified. We used the same model in our "in motion" Workplaces where we had champions identified. In addition, there is a cycling network within Abbotsford with strong leadership. "In motion" supported this group whose main objective was to promote cycling. This was very effective as the group attracted the cyclying enthusiasts who are passionate about cycling. The most important aspect of your strategy should involve identifying and supporting those that are passionate about cycling. It worked for us. "In motion" won an award for the province of British Columbia through the Union of BC Municipalities. The initiative is still running. I am not longer in Abbotsford but it lives on which is awesome. The website is : www.abbotsfordinmotion.ca . You may also wish to check out: http://www.biketowork.ca/

Cheers,
Wendy --

Wendy Creelman
President
Live Work Play Consulting Inc.
250-317-2109

Hi Alexis:

As part of public education outreach for a stormwater program, we visit hardware stores, garden centers and big box home improvement stores (e.g. Home Depot) and train employees about proper usage and disposal of pesticides and fertilizers. Through undercover surveys to the employees we found that the employees we have face-to-face time with passed with flying colors while the employees who we had not spoken with directly had no real understanding of our message. Hence, there was a disconnect between the people who participated in the program and all of the rest of the employees... the message wasn't disseminating. The thing we are currently using to try and address this is an employee 'pass-it-on' pilot program. The employees that we have face-to-face time with always sign commitment letters making a pledge to embrace stormwater friendly practices. We always tell the employees that they are the most important part of this process because they are the 'experts' in the field and so we count on them to be our 'messengers.' As part of our 'pass-it-on' program these 'messengers' are then given additional commitment letters to pass on to their coworkers. If the coworker signs the commitment letter and mails it back to us both the person signing the letter and the person who gave it to them will receive one of our stormwater program tote bags. I realize that the incentive poses it's own issue because it could be argued that people are only sending the commitment letter back in for a tote bag and that they are not really grasping the message, but we just couldn't see another way of incentivizing them to send it in. We have not yet gotten to the post evaluation point so I don't have concrete numbers to show how this is working. Hope this helps.

Best,
Erica

Erica Hooper
S. Groner Associates, Inc (SGA)
4510 E. Pacific Coast Hwy, Ste. 300
Long Beach, CA 90804
p|(562) 597-0205
f |(562) 597-0231
www.sga-inc.net

You may want to contact the Otesha project for many tips related to word of mouth campaigns (although they have expanded their outreach through e-mail and postering etc... Their website is www.otesha.ca. this is the perfect example of a grassroots sustainability movement that has been more successful with each passing year (so they must be doing something right). They are heavy on promoting bicycles as well.

Take a look at this website. I really like the idea. It lists the miles ridden/carbon offset/ country ranking/ number of people that cycle instead of using a car. Perhaps creating a NZ club would inspire people. http://worldcommute.com/

Mary

Hi Alexis,

We developed a network of volunteers to promote the new waste management scheme in our municipality, and it worked very well. It was a change to a complicated system that included curbside organic collection, so there were some barriers ("yuck" factor, inconvenience) to overcome. However, it resulted in almost 90% compliance, although the network was only one of a number of communication efforts. We supported them with information and training, and we had them in a database so that if we received a call from a school or community group or if there was an event that needed a speaker, we could have a local person attend and deliver the message. It was a more community-oriented approach by having peers speaking with peers. It worked very well, particularly because we had a few very eager and socially-connected volunteers, much the same type of people as the connectors, mavens and salespersons that Gladwell describes in The Tipping Point. This approach has also worked well for us in home composting campaigns. If you have the correct people, and if you give them very good support with information and training, it is incredible how much impact you can have with a modest investment.

All the best,
Ken Donnelly

Ken Donnelly
Vice President, Eastern Canada LURA Consulting
lura.ca [email protected]
t:902.422.8088 | f:902.422.6788 | c:902.223.6123 3650
Hammonds Plains Road, Unit 14, Suite 350
Upper Tantallon, NS B3Z 4R3

Check out www.thesoup.com.au These guys are world experts in WOM and advocacy. Also check out WOMMA

My advice is

1. sell the benefit
2. make it easy to do.
3. start small - one cycle a week is better than nothing.

cheers
Howard Parry-Husbands