Journal

Monthly Insight Series - Sustainable Transport

It's the second edition of our Monthly Insight Series, and with a number of our team recently returning from delivering the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom Integrated National Transport Strategy roadshow, we feel we're well placed to offer our insights on all things transport related.

Talk Transport
Humans. We’re hardwired to move – not just to get from A to B, but to explore, get around, and meet others along the way. We move to connect. To discover. To feel free.

From trams to bikes to walking festivals, transport has been a focus of our work at Creative Concern since day one. The well-punched Tripper ticket of our transport project roster has included:

Cycling and walking strategies;
Public awareness campaigns on clean air;
Health and safety on high speed rail;
EV charging networks;
Behaviour change campaigns;
Political campaigning on safer school streets; and
Large-scale engagement projects and transport visions.

We’ve had the chance to work with transport authorities, bike hire companies, operating companies, academics and campaigning charities like Sustrans. We’ve made brands, visions and events, and at one point had the very great fortune to design the bee that can now be found on the side of Greater Manchester’s yellow buses.

Most recently we’ve been working directly with the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom on the engagement roadshow for the Integrated National Transport Strategy (INTS). We’ve helped the Department deliver eleven co-design events across England, from the North East to the South West, with hundreds of people taking part and feeding into the strategy.

So what’s at the heart of the conversation on transport? What we’ve learnt, through thousands of conversations and many, many campaign events are a few, standout points that people always come back to:

Yes it’s the journey, but it’s also the destination. A lot of people want transport to be so easy and seamless that it very practically gets you to school, work or local services without you even thinking about it. Just another part of your day.
Experience matters above all. People will talk to you, above all, about feeling safe on an integrated network that’s reliable, accessible and affordable. Whether you’re walking, wheeling, cycling or on the bus, train or tram, these key elements really matter.
Language – make it simple. This is a sector where acronyms run rampant, jargon is impenetrable and where people are quite happy to talk about modes and routes and business cases without referring back to the everyday reasons we choose to move in the first place. Transport needs to relate to our lives otherwise, well, we don’t connect.

We’ve learnt a good deal from our European partners across our DoNotSmile Network too, as many of them are in-country experts on how to change the way people move.

Whatever project we’re focused on delivering, the imperative will always come back to shifts in behaviour and how we can’t cut carbon, clean the air and have healthier and more productive lives if we continue to see the majority of our journeys made by car. Encouraging people out of the driving habit and into something more sustainable is central. Again, we’ve learnt a thing or two along the way:

Make it safe and easy, first.
Don’t attempt behaviour change campaigns if the alternative simply isn’t good enough yet. You’ll create more problems than you solve that way.
Don’t shout, don’t shame – use humour.
The tone of communications on all of this is vital. Nobody is going to engage with you if you’re calling them evil. We need to positively convince, corral and motivate.
Engage, co-design and listen.

We always underpin our projects with a ‘listen and learn’ phase that can be anything from a quick 12-person workshop to a process bringing in thousands. Unless you take people with you, you’ll be on a journey to nowhere.

There are very few topics more likely to fire up a heated debate than transport. Everyone has a view and almost everyone is happy to share that view. That’s why communications and transport are the most natural of companions. When we supported Newcastle and Gateshead on their Clean Air Zone engagement it was a great example of this. A staged and long-running programme of communications was key to ensure that the CAZ was delivered well. One without the other, simply wouldn’t work.

The next stop on the journey? The communications challenge will get all the more critical in the years ahead. As our single largest source of carbon emissions, transport has to change dramatically in the next few years. As the underpinning infrastructure for our homes, our cities, our growth zones and our wider regions, there is very little that isn’t transport-reliant. Sharing the vision of a different kind of transport, understanding how people feel about their everyday journeys, prompting and inspiring change will all be as or more important.

At Creative Concern our transport offer will continue to flourish across three relatively simple areas of work about which we remain passionate and committed:

Engagement and co-design. We love to listen and creatively facilitate a conversation. It builds insight, understanding and a shared sense of destination. Start here.
Strategy, vision and brand. Whether it's a plan for walking or a plea for more cycle lanes, getting a clear narrative and strong story to tell will continue to be vital.
Great campaigns. Transport is funny, emotive and highly visual. There are always great characters involved. It is the very best of creative inspiration for strong, campaigning work.

So if you have a transport challenge you need to tackle, and compelling communications and behaviour change will be key to ensuring your success, then get in touch!

New Monthly Insight Series - Beyond Brand Guidelines

Creative Concern is a creative marketing and communications agency, passionate about using our skills to activate change.

For 22 years we’ve been privileged to work with some incredible organisations. From charities to organisations across the public and private sectors, all our clients are united in their mission to make a difference, effect positive change and make the world a better place through the work they do.

With over two decades of experience, we’ve learned a huge amount. And because we’re passionate about sharing that knowledge, we’re going to be sharing here on our Blog and through our LinkedIn newsletter, addressing a different topic, sector or challenge that our clients’ are facing. Our team will share their insights in the hope it inspires or helps others.

For our first article, meet our Head of Design Liz Newell. Liz draws on her many years of experience working with further and higher education institutions, helping them to realise creative and impactful campaigns, marketing assets and identities, even when they have to stick within the institutions’ tight brand guidelines.

Beyond brand guidelines: Unlocking creativity in education communications

Having a solid established education brand can sometimes feel limiting when it comes to creativity. It’s great to have a brand that is so easily recognised, but there’s a risk that all communications blend together and end up in a ‘safe space’.

Let’s look at it differently.

Having your core brand locked down can be helpful; it means you have the weight of a trusted organisation behind you. But you also have the freedom to use your budget to explore alternative creative solutions. Just remember – it’s about amplifying, not clashing or competing with your brand.

We understand that there are (rightly) some non-negotiables like logo, colours and typefaces, but that’s only part of the picture. There’s always some flexibility when it comes to what makes up your communications.

Here are some ways to keep things creative (all within the parameters of your brand, of course).

The power of an image

The right imagery can really elevate the entire brand – injecting new energy and relevance. There’s potential for a lot of creative flexibility here, so think carefully about the story you want to tell and who you’re telling it to and this will inform the right direction for the imagery. Is it about people or place or both?
With photography, do you want to show yourselves authentically or would it be more effective to take a more experimental and heavily art-directed approach? It may be that a signature illustration is just the thing you need in order to communicate effectively. Imagery can take many forms, so it’s often helpful when you’re trying to visualise topics that are otherwise hard to capture. We’ve illustrated everything from carbon emissions to jacket potatoes. Hit us with your next challenge ;)

Use words as your playground
Creative copywriting can be one of the simplest ways to stand out and distinguish your communications. Whether it’s an injection of humour (everyone loves a good pun, right?) through a series of short snappy key lines or crafting longer form stories or scripts that give people a voice; words matter. Messages that grab – and hold – attention, inspire, amuse and inform. It’s worth spending some time getting these right.

Choose the right output
Just as important as what you say is where you say it. Choosing the right output for your message is critical. Think – who’s your audience and what’s the best way of reaching them. If you know your audience are time-precious academics then a wordy 200-page report is probably not the right approach. It can also be worth getting the intended audience involved in ideas and testing – that way you’ll get a definite steer on what works and where they’re consuming information. Small shifts can have a BIG impact The key to creating fresh, dynamic design solutions is to focus on the areas where flexibility and differentiation are allowed within the brand. This might be elevating the use of a secondary colour palette; how the typography interacts with your imagery; or it might be a surprising design layout that differentiates your brand and connects with your audience. We’re really quick at getting to understand where that flexibility lies and we love bringing a new perspective to existing brands. One of our favourite tactics is exploring how a design aesthetic from a different sector can bring more impactful design solutions to our work with Educational Institutions.

Accessibility
We’ve been working to make our design solutions more accessible for our clients for many years. It’s super important that accessibility is core to the approach from the start. For us, more accessible and more creative communications can go hand in hand. It’s all about being audience aware and agreeing the approach early on in the design process.

Get in touch!
As you can see, we love working with educational institutions, so if you're from a college or university and have got plans afoot, drop us an email at info@creativeconcern.com and we'll happily jump on a call for a (free) 30 minute surgery to help you plan.

Tips from our team... keeping remote working creative

More from Faith this week on keeping creative when your team are all working remotely...

"We've learned that remote, or even blended working patterns don't have to mean the loss of co-creation, team collaborations or creative projects. In fact, there's opportunities to do even more to keep your communications creative, relevant and impactful.

Think sprint not marathon; find new platforms; bust the brief…

These are just three of the top tips for keeping teams creative during the pandemic restrictions that we shared at a Charity Comms conference a few months ago. If you're interested in hearing what other charities told us about their biggest challenges, join the recording of our presentation. If join the recording to dive straight into top tips to run great remote creative ideas sessions.

Inject some new thinking

We've set up a (slightly silly, definitely useful) new idea prompt generator on our website. If you're stuck and need a quick injection of something fresh, take a look and scroll to the bottom where you'll find our 'New thing please' prompt generator right there!

Don't rule anything out

In spite of current restrictions, we've been helping clients to run incredibly sucessful, engaging events, running focus groups and continuing with audience testing for our digital and campaign work, making new films for clients and running Covid-safe photo shoots. There really is no need to feel that you have to put any of your charity's plan on hold - now more than ever is the time to increase your presence, engage your supporters and wider audiences and express exactly who you are as an organisation.

We're running Zoom sessions right now to help clients navigate all of these issues and many more – so if you think we can help (even if its just to assess your current site, without firm plans to make radical changes) get in touch.

Tips from our team... briefing in a film

This week Chris shares his top tips for briefing in a film to your agency:

"If you’re planning some filming for the Autumn, here’s a few pointers to help you get the most out of your shoot…

Ask yourself, is it a film?

This might sound daft, but film is great at taking your audiences to interesting and unusual places and to capture emotions and opinions. Not everything makes a great film, so the first big question to ask is - is film the best and most compelling way to get the information across?

Covid-safe

It’s an obvious one but follow the guidance on safe shooting. Our team have all taken the Covid-safe filming test and have the certification. We can guide you through this if needed to make sure we all stay safe on the job.

Planning makes all the difference

A successful film takes planning and organising. Getting the best locations, the most interesting angles and the most interesting interviewees all takes planning and visualising the final film before you even start.

Vox pops are rarely the best approach

We are often asked to capture ‘vox pops’ which in reality are interviews simply because the subject matter can be more complex than a simple vox pop question. We’d suggest planning your film by thinking about the message first and then decide the best way to communicate your message or story. Vox pops are rarely the best way!

Film it once, use it many times

If you are going to invest in capturing some film content, think about how you can use this content across different channels and formats. This might mean making a few different edits or re-purposing your film to work in portrait or square format. We’d recommend getting the maximum value from your filming by running the content across all of your channels.

Would you watch it?

This last point is critical - only make films that you would watch! What we mean is, make sure your films are as interesting, vibrant and visually dramatic as possible. If you enjoy watching them, then so will your audiences

Good luck!"

Charity webinar: mastering digital and social advertising for your charity

NEW DATE!!!

Creative Concern and Root Media have teamed up to offer a free webinar for charities on 3RD NOVEMBER, 11AM - 12.30PM

When it comes to using using digital to increase fundraising, increase awareness and engagement and build a charity’s brand, there’s a huge range of options that you can take advantage of. But many of us stick to the same few approaches, time and again, because we don’t have the time or knowledge to explore other (potentially far more impactful) routes.

We're inviting charities to register for a 90min, interactive live webinar on 3RD NOVEMBER, 11AM - 12.30PM to bring you up to speed on the latest opportunities available to charities across digital platforms, and give you a chance through questions and group discussion to explore the potential for your organisation. We’ll get stuck into:

- social platforms; does it really have to be all about Facebook? Ways to expand your profile effectively across other social platforms

- integrating your off and online efforts, so they work together and help you build momentum

- how you can ensure that your digital activity doesn’t just drive traffic to your website or social channel, but actually leads to meaningful engagement

- how to maintain high levels of creativity, even when working with strict formats

There are limited places. Please get in touch with Faith on faith@creativeconcern.com to reserve your space. See you there!

Tips from our team... proofreading

This week, our Senior copywriter, Rebecca shares some top tips for tip top proofreading:

"Proofreading is an important part of any job – it picks up those typos and grammar mistakes that can often slip through earlier drafts. It’s always a good idea to get someone else to proofread your work, a pair of fresh eyes can be key. If you’re proofreading your own work, here are three top tips to spot those mistakes:

1. Don’t rely on spell check. Even when words are spelt correctly, they may be being used incorrectly or be a simple typo (‘an’ instead of and’, ‘dairy’ not ‘diary’). For example spell check won’t pick up ‘What is there name?’ as it’s all spelt right, but it should be ‘What is their name?’.

2. Read aloud. You’re more likely to spot mistakes and awkward sentences if you read them out loud. If you stumble over the words, chances are your reader will too.

3. Check it twice (at least). You’ll do well to spot everything in just one proofreading session. There will be checks for consistency, cross referencing (page numbers etc.) and so on that you’ll need to check back over after the first run through.

Good luck!"

Tips from our team... providing amends to your designer

This week, Faith (our Business Director) shares some tips on how to provide amends and feedback on drafts of creative work.

"We know there's always going to be amends on creative drafts and we build in time to cover these of course! But there's some simple, practical ways to make sure that your designers really understand what you mean, and rounds of amends are kept to a minimum.

1. Think about three key areas: content, accuracy and design, when you're reviewing creative drafts. Ask:

Are all the written and visual elements that you expected to see in the draft included (as occasionally, images or lines of writing may be accidentally cut when being added to the draft)?

Are you completely happy with how the document reads?

Are you happy with how the images and graphical elements in your draft appear?

Are all contact details (telephone numbers, email addresses, web addresses etc) included in your draft are correct?

Are all figures (statistics, quantities etc) included in the draft correct?

Are all references and photography credits correct?

2. If you're marking up PDFs, try to use the correct markup tools; there are specific commenting tools for text deletions, replacements, insertions etc. Sticky notes should ideally be kept for general queries or design changes, as it can be difficult to locate exactly where in the text the amend is. There is helpful advice on the Adobe website: https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/using/commenting-pdfs.html

3. If you're supplying replacement copy for any part of the document, please supply this as a typed version on email or word document and provide the page and paragraph number for each amend (so we’re clear about what we’re amending)

Super practical - but helps to speed the amends process up and get the final result ready for you much quicker!"

Happy amending! Faith

CC webinars; sharing insights and helping each other

The Creative Concern team has been putting together a series of short and sweet pre-recorded webinars, on subjects that we think might be useful for our clients, as well as the wider world of charities, the public sector and all others who are commited to making this world a better place. We hope you enjoy them and find something useful. And if you know someone else who might be interested, please share them on!

Watch our webinars here

Creative breaks: ideas to keep you (and your family!) feeling creative

Here at Creative Concern, we're all about keeping ourselves thinking as creatively as possible, and sometimes that means taking a break, and trying something simple, and fun.

We've put some activities together that are great for adults and children alike. If you're feeling bogged down and struggling to find the creative spark at any time, feel free to download and give one of these a go – we hope they help!

Find all the Creative Breaks activities to download here

Go Live - our websites for charities and not for profits

At Creative Concern we’ve been developing websites for charities and not for profits for 18 years. Right now beautiful, responsive, and completely editable websites are at the very heart of the sector's communications. So we’ve developed a special web product tailored exactly to their needs.

Find out more about Go Live and see if it could be the solution for your new website.