Collection of Cycle Concepts 2012.pdf - Fietsberaad

CAMPAIGNS AND COMMUNICATIONS
relationships with local journalists that can prove
useful when you have something in mind.
Evaluation
Cycling campaigns are often part of an overall
strategy and a long-term plan regardless of
whether their aim is safety, active engagement or
behavior maintenance. It is thus essential that a
targeted initiative or campaign is monitored and
rounded off with a comprehensive evaluation.
This is not merely useful for the community’s
own future work; it can inspire other towns
to implement similar measures if the results
are favourable, or avoid wasting resources on
activities or events with little or no impact.
Representatives of Aarhus Cycle City were in the streets regularly during the campaign launching and
in connection with other activities, distributing small gifts to cyclists. In addition to rewarding cyclists
for their choice of transport mode the activities aimed at giving the local authority a human face,
personalizing communication.
PR
When the local authority organizes activities or
constructs facilities aimed at accommodating
cyclists, it is essential to tell the good stories in
the local media, either by issuing a press release
og through personal contacts to local journalists.
Sometimes the stories are even so good that
they are of interest to regional, national or
international media.
The main thing though is to tell the public about
the good things the local authorities are doing,
thereby increasing the initiative’s value.
Local media PR has several advantages:
• It is a cheap and simple means of
communication
• You reach out to the local citizens
• Politicians enjoy getting local media coverage
PR has drawbacks too:
• You cannot be sure the media will take the
bait if there are other more important stories
to tell
• You have no control over the angle
It is consequently of prime importance to learn
the rules of the game and build up personal
It is crucial that evaluation should be factored
into the campaign design from the outset
so as to create an overview of desired data.
Nevertheless the evaluation phase is often
neglected, receiving little or no funding, and
often neither indicators nor effect objectives are
established for campaigns or communications.
Evaluation serves several excellent purposes apart
from gathering results and sharing knowledge;
it can be used to document impact, for example,
showing politicians whether they got good
value for their money. This might inspire them
to allocate more funds to communications and
campaigns.
There are many different evaluation methods,
including questionnaires or focus groups, and
several useful templates are available, such
as Max Sumo, which is free and easy to use.
Regardless of the method it is crucial to evaluate
multiple parameters and perhaps even repeat the
process at different times.